Digital Commons Network^™

Impact Of One Night Sleep Restriction On Autonomic Function And Heart Rate Variability In Recreational Cyclists, Amanda J. Becker

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Introduction: Sleep quality has been shown to influence autonomic function. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) responds to stressors by regulating key functions such as heart rate. Autonomic function can be monitored via heart rate variability (HRV). Athletes are prone to poor sleep quality due to psychological and physical stresses of training and competing. Our objective was to investigate the function of the ANS at rest and during exercise following a night of normal sleep (SLP+) and a night of restricted sleep (SLP-).

Methods: Subjects (n=9) completed a familiarization trial and two identical experimental trials under different sleep conditions: SLP- (3-hour …

Iowa Statewide Stream Nitrate Loading: 2017-2018 Update, Christopher S. Jones, Keith E. Schilling

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

In response to ongoing hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, several states in the Mississippi River basin have adopted nutrient reduction plans in recent years designed to arrest the flow of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from both point and non-point sources to the stream network. Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, implemented in 2012, aims to reduce stream loading of these nutrients by 45% within a yet-to-be-defined time frame. Because the state has chosen to integrate accountability into the strategy through the numerical objective, ongoing water monitoring is necessary to credibly measure progress. The primary objective of this research was to …

Birds In The Urban Landscape, Center For Urban Resilience

Module 10: Garden Ecology

No abstract provided.

Finding Common Rules Of Robustness And Resilience That Span Multiple Levels Of Biological Organization, Robert Burnap, Jing Chen, Erica Crespi, Moumita Das, Rebecca Simmons, Zhen Wang, Jie Xiao, Bing Yang, John Yin

Biology Faculty Publications

Today, humans as a species face significant global challenges: meeting the needs of an ever expanding human population for food and energy from limited land, water and other resources; finding ways to counter rapidly changing pathogens that become resistant to current treatments; adapting to climate change that is linked to more frequent flooding, drought, wildfires and temperature extremes; and reversing the deterioration of ecosystems associated with human induced alterations of the environment. Owing to its resilience and robustness, life in one form or another will likely persist, but it is unknown by what mechanisms or in what forms. Much is …

Crossed Tracks: Mesolimulus, Archaeopteryx, And The Nature Of Fossils, Leonard Finkelman

Faculty Publications

Organisms leave a variety of traces in the fossil record. Among these traces, vertebrate and invertebrate paleontologists conventionally recognize a distinction between the remains of an organism’s phenotype (body fossils) and the remains of an organism’s life activities (trace fossils). The same convention recognizes body fossils as biological structures and trace fossils as geological objects. This convention explains some curious practices in the classification, as with the distinction between taxa for trace fossils and for tracemakers. I consider the distinction between “parallel taxonomies,” or parataxonomies, which privileges some kinds of fossil taxa as “natural” and others as “artificial.” The motivations …

Michigan Academician, Volume 46, Issue 1

Michigan Academician

No abstract provided.

Five-Year Response Of Spontaneous Vegetation To Removal Of Invasive Amur Bush Honeysuckle Along An Urban Creek, Rebecca W. Dolan, Kelly H. Brown

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Non-native invasive species have major impacts on landscapes worldwide, but their effects in urban areas are not well documented. We quantified the response of naturally regenerating vegetation along an urban creek to removal of the invasive shrub Lonicera maackii (Amur Bush Honeysuckle). Over the 5-year study, species richness more than doubled. Most new plants were native, disturbance-adapted, early successional species. Trend analysis of function traits revealed annuals that rely on seed dispersal by wind or externally on animals were significantly overrepresented among new plants in comparison to their proportion in the countywide species pool. Increased species richness did not result …

Mcnair Scholars Research Journal 2019, Daisy Estrada, Kenya Loudd, Joyce Payan, Alex Sanchez, Bilal Alameri, Eman Alasadi, Ross J. Armant, Umesh Bhandari, Ryne Dingler, Ciara Mason, Yvonne Nguyen, Treston Shaw, Jason Tasie

McNair Scholars Research Journal-Archive

No abstract provided.

Use Of Surgical Tissue Adhesive And Body Mass Change To Assess Ring-Necked Pheasant Brood Foraging Habitat, Todd R. Bogenschutz, Chris S. Jennelle, Mark W. Mcinroy, Steven D. Roberts

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Foraging rates (arthropod consumption [g/min/chick]) of human-imprinted chicks provide a reasonable metric for assessing the quality of brood-rearing habitats for gallinaceous species. Arthropod foraging rates have been estimated using dry mass or allometric equations of crop and gizzard contents, and internal surgical ligature of the crop. Current methods are time- and labor-intensive. We describe a new method to estimate foraging rate using chick mass change (g/min) during a 30-min foraging trial. Our technique requires surgical tissue adhesive be applied to the cloaca to prevent bias in mass change measurements caused by defecation. We compare our mass change technique to a …

Cover

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Invasive Trees On Native Floodplain Forest Vegetation & Breeding Bird, Jacob Myers

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

A Changed River's Effects On Native Turtle Distribution, Marshall Kim

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Suspended Sediment Contributions Of Nebraska Tributaries Along The 59-Mile, Nathan Cardona

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Aquatic Insect-Derived Missouri River, Katy A. Mccarthy

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Multifunctional Landscapes Along The Missouri National Recreational River, Ann Mcgehrin

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Lost In Translation: Challenges And Solutions To Language Barriers In Healthcare In Mississippi, Galina Ostrovsky

Honors Theses

Language barriers can impede access to healthcare and compromise quality of care for limited English proficiency (LEP) patients. Although a rights-based framework would suggest and federal mandates require healthcare facilities to provide language access services, multiple factors result in the persistence of language barriers in healthcare. As the literature review shows, these factors include limitations in policy, enforcement, standardization, resources, and ability to recruit and retain professional interpreters. This thesis uses a multi-method case study entailing Mississippi in general and information from two specific sites, a rural Delta county and an urban central county, to assess the issue of language …

Investigation Of Intergroup Bias In Two Neuromaturationally Distinct Age Cohorts: An Erp Study, Reuven M. Hanna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Currently, sociological investigation of adolescent behavior focuses on the intersection of biography, history, and structure to explain adolescent risk-taking, reward-seeking, impulsivity, novelty-seeking and peer-salience. However, the preponderance of the evidence points away from social ecology and to a significant neuromaturational restructuring event between the 12th and 25th years of life as the root of adolescent behavioral tendencies. As a result, sociological social psychology can benefit from engaging in basic research using neuroscience methods. The present study expands the dual systems model of brain development to account for maturational changes in the social brain network as a way to explain social …

Parents In Urbanized Areas And Their Perception Of 4-H Youth Development Programs, Matthew Ryan Olson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions held by parents living in the urbanized area of Rapid City, South Dakota, to determine if artificial barriers to joining 4-H PYD programs existed. Through snowball sampling methods, nine participants were recruited to engage in semi-structured interviews. Transcripts from the interviews were coded utilizing in vivo and axial coding methods. Four themes emerged from the interviews: characteristics of youth development programs, program promotion through school flyers, barriers to joining youth development programs, and 4-H and its connection to agriculture. The major recommendation for 4-H professionals is to focus on leadership, life skills, and character development …

Recovering Our Roots: The Importance Of Salish Ethnobotanical Knowledge And Traditional Food Systems To Community Wellbeing On The Flathead Indian Reservation In Montana., Mitchell Rose Bear Don't Walk

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis provides a culturally-comprehensive review of the plants utilized for food in the Bitterroot Salish tribe of northwestern Montana. As part of the larger Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CS&KT) of the Flathead Indian Reservation, the Bitterroot Salish historically utilized hundreds of plants for food, medicine and hygiene. This thesis aims to highlight food plants and their important cultural components. The information herein is a combination of history, ethnography, linguistics, ethnobotany, and first-hand experience with the current Salish community to provide a holistic framework of understanding traditional food plants today. A comprehensive plant list is provided with Latin, Salish …

Innovative Use Of Alkalis In The Ancient Americas, Robert C. Bradley

School of Art & Design Faculty Publications

Nixtamalization, from the Náhuatl nixtamalli, is a process in which maize is soaked in a vessel containing an alkali solution. The alkali processing of maize is essential in preparing corn for human consumption because it releases lysine and tryptophan and, most importantly, niacin. Without these, when the primary dietary staple is unprocessed maize, the result is malnutrition and disease, pellagra. Nixtamalization originated in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica but there was a paucity of corn processing in pre-Hispanic South America, even though corn was ubiquitous in both regions at a very early date. However, coca was similarly soaked in an alkali solution, …

Evaluating Spatial Distributions Of Scent-Marks In Semi-Free-Ranging Groups Of Lemur Catta At The Duke Lemur Center, Shallu Prasher

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Scent-marking is a widespread form of olfactory signaling exhibited in mammals and for a select group of primates. Although research exists on the process of scent-marking, surface preferences, and for the function of scent-marking in lemurs, analyses of how lemur group scent-marking distributions map onto their home range are lacking. The endangered ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) deposits scent-marks using its ano-genital, chest, and wrist glands. This project was designed to collect data on two groups of semi-free-ranging captive ring-tailed lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center to first assess how scent-marks are distributed within their home ranges; and second, to evaluate …

Volume 11, Jacob Carney, Ryan White, Joseph Hyman, Jenny Raven, Megan Garrett, Ibrahim Kante, Summer Meinhard, Lauren Johnson, William "Editha" Dean Howells, Laura Gottschalk, Christopher Siefke, Pink Powell, Natasha Woodmancy, Katharine Colley, Abbey Mays, Charlotte Potts

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Table of Contents:

Introduction, Dr. Roger A. Byrne, Dean

From the Editor, Dr. Larissa "Kat" Tracy

From the Designers, Rachel English, Rachel Hanson

Synthesis of 3,5-substituted Parabens and their Antimicrobial Properties, Jacob Coarney, Ryan White

Chernobyl: Putting "Perestroika" and "Glasnot" to the Test, Joseph Hyman

Art by Jenny Raven

Watering Down Accessibility: The Issue with Public Access to Alaska's Federal Waterways, Meagan Garrett

Why Has the Democratic Republic of the Congo outsourced its Responsibility to Educate its Citizens? Ibrahim Kante

Art by Summer Meinhard

A Computational Study of Single Molecule Diodes, Lauren Johnson

Satire of …

Inteins From Pathogenic Microbes As Regulatory Elements And Potential Drug Targets, Cathleen Maria Schiraldi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Inteins are self-splicing elements that orchestrate the autocatalytic process of protein splicing, during which the intein excises itself from a host polypeptide. This multistep reaction involves a series of coordinated nucleophilic attacks and peptide bond rearrangements that remove the intein and reassemble the flanking halves, called exteins, to form the mature host protein. Some inteins are also mobile elements, and can spread to the same or ectopic sites using an internal homing endonuclease domain.

Tribute From The Underworld : The Historical Ecology Of The Maya Postclassic Fish Trade With Isotopic Analysis Of Otoliths From MayapáN And Caye Coco, Jeffrey Michael Bryant

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation investigates the Maya fish trade through the extensive analysis of fish otoliths (ear stones), from the Postclassic sites of Mayapán, and Caye Coco, and provides an initial foundation for the development of a historical ecology program. Through osteometry, thin-section microscopy of growth rings, and microscale stable isotope analysis (δC13 and δO18), a spectrum of data is produced to characterize the Postclassic fish trade. These data are used to illuminate themes of the seasonality of the fish harvest, diet, biodiversity, fish population demography, environmental change, sustainability, and resilience. The timing of a seasonal intensification of the harvest is viewed …

Agricultural Livelihoods In Harlan County: A Case Study Approach Of Two Farms, Heather Kinney

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

This thesis explores agricultural livelihoods in Harlan County with two case studies in order to challenge dominant narratives about Eastern Kentucky. Harlan County, and Appalachia more broadly, is often written about in terms of its relationship to extractive industries. Absentee landownership in Appalachia has been well documented, especially in the case of coal counties. However, the relationship between extraction and agricultural livelihoods in Appalachia warrants more attention. The story of agricultural livelihoods in the region is often pushed to the periphery much like the practices of “hillside” farming. While geography makes much of the land unsuitable for farming in Harlan …

Ranging And Behavior Of Black And Gold Howler Monkeys In Formosa, Argentina, Claire Rossi De Leon

Library Map Prize

Howler monkeys (Alouatta spp.) are known for their adaptability, allowing them to inhabit a large range of forest types and driving high levels of variation in ranging and behavioral patterns. I address a series of hypotheses relating these relationships: 1) If an energy minimizing lifestyle is an adaptation to eating high quantities of leaves, then howler groups that have a high proportion of leaves in their diet will occupy smaller home ranges, have shorter daily path lengths, and spend more time resting, 2) if temperature is the primary driver of high levels of resting, then howlers will conserve energy and …

Effect Of Group Size On The Activity Budget Of Two Captive Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Kaeley Sullins

All Master's Theses

Captive facilities housing chimpanzees are required to provide adequate care and provisions such as dietary, social, and environmental enrichment to promote the psychological well-being of the apes in their care. Chimpanzees are social creatures and changes in groups as well as relocation to a facility with new social partners, can impact each individual chimpanzee’s welfare. By tracking each chimpanzee’s activity budgets, managers can assess welfare and make improvements or adjustments if necessary. I looked at the activity budgets of two captive chimpanzees after the death of a group member and the two chimpanzees’ subsequent relocation to a novel, more socially …

Measuring Trace Element Concentrations In Artiodactyl Cannonbones Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence, Joshua L. Henderson

All Master's Theses

Artiodactyl bones are the most common faunal remains found in Washington prehistoric archaeology sites, but they are often too fragmented to accurately identify a family, genus, or species. Traditional faunal analysis can only organize unidentifiable bone fragments into size class, and chemical methods often require the destruction of bone samples. In this thesis research, I tested a new, nondestructive faunal analysis technique using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to measure trace element concentrations in comparative collection and archaeological bone samples. Using cannonbones from five different artiodactyl species, I collected trace element data from 50 comparative collection specimens and 18 archaeological specimens …

The Effect Of Sound On Captive Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Grace Coffman

All Master's Theses

Sound exposure can have detrimental physiological and psychological effects on humans, but effects on nonhuman primates are not as well understood. Captive chimpanzees are exposed to markedly different acoustic environments than their wild counterparts. This study assessed the organic soundscape of a chimpanzee sanctuary, the Fauna Foundation, in Carignan, Québec, Canada. Noninvasive, observational data collection assessed for frequency of behavior and correlations between chimpanzee behavioral categories, arousal level, and decibel level. Agonistic behavior occurred more frequently in the highest decibel level category. There was a positive correlation between decibel level and arousal level. These findings suggest the need for increased …

Evaluations Of Health In Sympatric Free-Ranging Saguinus Imperator And Leontocebus Weddelli Using Neopterin, Urinalysis, And Blood Chemistry Analyses, Alexandra J. Sacco

All Master's Theses

This thesis is composed of one journal-ready article and one chapter that includes a preliminary interpretation of data for later publication. In summary, this thesis proposes the use of three different methods of evaluating the health status of New World Monkeys: urinary neopterin measurement, blood chemistry analyses, and urinalysis. Chapter II addresses the question of whether or not the neopterin molecule, a biomarker for cell-mediated immune system activation, is conserved across primate taxa. To do so, we collected urine samples across three New World Monkey (NWM) families including captive Leontopithecus rosalia and Pithecia pithecia, and wild populations of Leontocebus …