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The Ecology Of San Luis Obispo: A Children's Book, Heidi Van Campen

Social Sciences

San Luis Obispo is one of the most loved places in the world by its residents and visitors. Located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo is the heart of California's Central Coast. However, this paper is not about the present-day cities or residents. It is an ecological history; the story of life and land over time.

Historians tend to treat nature as the setting for history, rather than a participant. Ecology is a history written knowing that we shape our environment and it shapes us.

This is a story of the ecology of San Luis Obispo.

Review Of The Leadership Of George Bush: An Insider's View Of The Forty-First President. By Roman Popadiuk, Caroline Heldman

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The Leadership of George Bush is infused with a sentimentality exemplified by the book's opening statement describing the Bushes' emotional response to Bush 43's election to the presidency: "George Bush sat straight up, his back rigid but his chest heaving slightly as he sought to hold back tears. Barbara Bush sat quietly, unmovable, a glint of satisfaction and pride sparkling in her eyes." Despite the author's proximity and long-time affiliation, the book provides scant new information about Bush 41 's presidency, mostly because the author fails to connect it with larger literatures on presidential leadership and executive management. Instead, it …

Information-Seeking Behaviors Of First-Semester Veterinary Students: A Preliminary Report, Sharon A. Weiner, Gretchen Stephens, Abdelfattah Y.M. Nour

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Although emphasis in veterinary education is increasingly being placed on the ability to find, use, and communicate information, studies on the information behaviors of veterinary students or professionals are few. Improved knowledge in this area will provide valuable information for course and curriculum planning and the design of information resources. This article describes a survey of the information-seeking behaviors of first-semester veterinary students at Purdue University. A survey was administered as the first phase of a progressive semester-long assignment for a first semester DVM course in systemic mammalian physiology. The survey probed for understanding of the scientific literature and its …

Beliefs About Racism And Health Among African American Women With Diabetes: A Qualitative Study, Julie A. Wagner, Lisa M. Budris, Sophia Belay, Howard A. Tennen

UCHC Articles - Research

Exposure to racism has been linked to poor health outcomes. Little is known about the impact of racism on diabetes outcomes. This study explored African American (AA) women’s beliefs about how racism interacts with their diabetes self-management and control. Four focus groups were conducted with a convenience sample of 28 adult AA women with type 2 diabetes who were recruited from a larger quantitative study on racism and diabetes. The focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim and analyzed by the authors. Women reported that exposure to racism was a common phenomenon, and their beliefs did in fact link racism to …

Infectious Diseases In Yellowstone’S Canid Community, Emily S. Almberg, Paul C. Cross, L. David Mech, Doug W. Smith, Jennifer W. Sheldon, Robert L. Crabtree

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Each summer Yellowstone Wolf Project staff visit den sites to monitor the success of wolf reproduction and pup rearing behavior. For the purposes of wolf monitoring, Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is divided into two study areas, the northern range and the interior, each distinguished by their ecological and physiographical differences. The 1,000 square kilometer northern range, characterized by lower elevations (1,500–2,200 m), serves as prime winter habitat for ungulates and supports a higher density of wolves than the interior (20–99 wolves/1,000 km² versus 2–11 wolves/1,000 km²). The interior of the park encompasses 7,991 square kilometers, is higher …

Profiles In Science For Science Librarians: "What Lives Where, And Why": Alfred Russel Wallace, And The Field Of Biogeography, Charles H. Smith

DLPS Faculty Publications

Biogeography, the study of animal and plant distribution, has a history extending back to at least the eighteenth century. But it was not until the work of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the mid-nineteenth century that it really came into its own as a science. Darwin’s importance notwithstanding, it was really Wallace who put the field on the map, and many of today’s research threads can be traced back to his influence. This article provides a summary review of Wallace’s life and work and biogeography as a field of study, including Wallace’s role in its development.

Physiological And Genetic Correlates Of Boldness: Characterising The Mechanisms Of Behavioural Variation In Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Jack S. Thomson, Phillip C. Watts, Tom G. Pottinger, Lynne U. Sneddon

Aquaculture Collection

Bold, risk-taking animals have previously been putatively linked with a proactive stress coping style whereas it is suggested shyer, risk-averse animals exhibit a reactive coping style. The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in the expression of bold-type behaviour were evident within and between two lines of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, selectively bred for a low (LR) or high (HR) endocrine response to stress, and to link boldness and stress responsiveness with the expression of related candidate genes. Boldness was determined in individual fish over two trials by measuring the latency to approach a novel object. Differences …

Physiological And Genetic Correlates Of Boldness: Characterising The Mechanisms Of Behavioural Variation In Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Jack S. Thomson, Phillip C. Watts, T. G. Pottinger, Lynne U. Sneddon

Ethology Collection

Bold, risk-taking animals have previously been putatively linked with a proactive stress coping style whereas it is suggested shyer, risk-averse animals exhibit a reactive coping style. The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in the expression of bold-type behaviour were evident within and between two lines of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, selectively bred for a low (LR) or high (HR) endocrine response to stress, and to link boldness and stress responsiveness with the expression of related candidate genes. Boldness was determined in individual fish over two trials by measuring the latency to approach a novel object. Differences …

Human Health Implications Of Intensive Poultry Production And Avian Influenza

Agribusiness Reports

The high stocking density, stress, unhygienic conditions, lack of sunlight, and breeding practices typical of industrial poultry and egg production systems may facilitate the emergence and spread of diseases, including highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses with public health implications such as H5N1.

An Ecological Analysis Of Social And Economic Influences On Black And White Infant Mortality Risk In Orange County, Fl, Littleton, Vanessa Lopez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black health disparities are a salient public health issue with blacks in every socioeconomic level at a greater health disadvantage than their white counterparts. In particular, disparity in infant mortality rates between blacks and whites have widened in recent decades to differentials never before experienced in the United States. Social ecologists investigating the myriad of individual and environmental risk factors have failed to fully account for the persistent differential. This study examines the relationships between individual and environmental influences on the health risk experienced by blacks, whites, as well as the differential between the two populations. This multi-level analysis was …

The Access Gap: Poverty And Characteristics Of School Library Media Centers, Shana Pribesh, Karen Gavigan, Gail Dickinson

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Stephen Krashen believes that schools can counter the effects of poverty in at least one area: access to books. However, little research has been done to determine whether students living in poverty have access to school library services comparable to those attending schools with low concentrations of students living in poverty. We examined the school library access gap namely, the differences in school library characteristics (staffing, books added to collection, schedule, and number of days closed) in schools with various concentrations of students living in poverty. Alarmingly, we found that the students in most need—those attending schools with the highest …

Grouse News 41-50 (2011-2015), Iucn Ssc-Wpa Specialist Group

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

Issue 41 (May 2011)

From the Editor

From the Chair

Conservation News Urgent measures for conservation of the Cantabrian capercaillie Tetrao urogallus cantabricus in its habitat in the Cantabrian mountain range

Research Reports

Effects of large-scale human land use on capercaillie Tetrao urogallus (L.) populations in Finland: A short summary of the PhD thesis

Why the capercaillie population Tetrao urogallus (L.) in the West Carpathians decline?

Hazel grouse in open landscapes

Investigating the importance of thermal refugia for white-tailed ptarmigan at the southern extent of their range

Is GPS and satellite telemetry an option for grouse research?

GPS satellite telemetry …

Wireless Telesurveillance System For Detecting Dementia, William D. Kearns, James L. Fozard, Vilis O. Nams, Jeffrey D. Craighead

Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Faculty Publications

Objective We hypothesized path tortuosity (an index of casual locomotor variability) measured by a movement telesurveillance system would be suitable for assisted living facility residents clinically diagnosed with dementia. Background We examined the relationship of dementia to path tortuosity and to movement speed and path length variability, both of which increase in dementia. Methods Daytime movements of 25 elders (19 female; 14 with dementia; average age 80.6) were monitored for 30 days using radio transponders measuring location with a maximum accuracy of 20 cm. After 30 days, the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) and Revised Algase Wandering Scale-Community Version (RAWS-CV) …

Spring-Migration Ecology Of Northern Pintails In South-Central Nebraska, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, Robert R. Cox Jr., Bruce E. Davis

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Spring-migration ecology of staging Northern Pintails, Anas acuta, was investigated in south-central Nebraska, USA. Habitat associations, local movements, settling patterns, arrival dates, residency times and survival were estimated from 71 radiomarked pintails during spring 2001, 2003 and 2004, and diet determined from 130 females collected during spring 1998 and 1999. Seventy-two percent of pintail diurnal locations were in palustrine wetlands, 7% in riverine wetlands, 3% in lacustrine wetlands, 6% in municipal sewage lagoons and irrigation reuse pits and 10.5% in croplands. Emergent wetlands with hemi-marsh conditions were used diurnally more often than wetlands with either open or closed vegetation …

Use Of Cranial Characters In Taxonomy Of The Minnesota Wolf (Canis Sp.), L. David Mech, Ronald M. Nowak, Sanford Weisberg

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Minnesota wolves (Canis sp.) sometimes are reported to have affinity to a small, narrow-skulled eastern form (Canis lupus lycaon Schreber, 1775) and sometimes to a larger, broader western form (Canis lupus nubilus Say, 1823). We found that pre-1950 Minnesota wolf skulls were similar in size to those of wolves from southeastern Ontario and smaller than those of western wolves. However, Minnesota wolf skulls during 1970–1976 showed a shift to the larger, western form. Although Minnesota skull measurements after 1976 were unavailable, rostral ratios from 1969 through 1999 were consistent with hybridization between the smaller eastern wolf and …

Mechanisms For Decisions About The Future, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Evolutionary and psychological perspectives on decision making remain largely separate endeavors. The bounded rationality approach integrates these two perspectives by focusing on simple, plausible mechanisms of decision making and the cognitive capacities needed to implement these mechanisms. Decisions about the future provide a class of decisions that lend themselves to a bounded rationality approach. Though many different mechanisms may exist for making decisions about the future, only a subset of these mechanisms actually require a representation of the future. The bounded rationality approach helps focus on the cognitive capacities and decision mechanisms that are necessary for a full understanding of …

Do Fast Food Restaurants Cluster Around High Schools? A Geospatial Analysis Of Proximity Of Fast Food Restaurants To High Schools And The Connection To Childhood Obesity Rates, Hilary Nixon, Lauren Doud

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Nationwide, approximately 30% of children consume fast food on a typical day, and caloric intake from fast food has increased fivefold over the past three decades. Our analysis adds to a growing body of public health and planning research through a geospatial analysis of fast food restaurants in Santa Clara County, California. We selected 41 high schools, representing 97% of enrollment in the county, and examined proximity to fast food restaurants within 400 meters (437 yards) and 800 meters (875 yards) of the schools. Our results indicate that fast food restaurants are clustered near high schools with higher obesity rates. …

Dormant Ethnobotany: A Case Study Of Decline In Regional Plant Knowledge In The Bull Run Mountains Of Virginia, Susan Rene Leopold

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation introduces and applies the concept of dormant ethnobotany, a concept that helps explain the socio-economic, cultural and ecological aspects and implications of the transition away from active use of ethnobotanical knowledge and the factors that may lead to its re-emergence. Dormant ethnobotany is the study of relationships between people and plants that are inactive, but nonetheless still alive in memories, the historic record, and folklore and thereby capable of reemergence in support of the transition to a more sustainable society. The dissertation extends the field of ethnobotany from its current roots in the dynamic ethnobotany of indigenous peoples. …

Coping With Forest Fragmentation: A Comparison Of Colobus Angolensis Palliatus Dietary Diversity And Behavioral Plasticity In The East Sagara Forest, Tanzania., Noah T. Dunham

Honors Projects

Habitat destruction and forest fragmentation are perhaps the largest threats to primate species around the world. While national parks, games reserves, and primate sanctuaries are instrumental in primate conservation, research suggests that some non-governmentally protected forest fragments may also serve as viable habitats for primates. Of course not all primates respond to fragmentation in the same way, but a species’ ability to survive in a fragment relates to 1) home range size 2) degree of frugivory 3) dietary flexibility and behavioral plasticity and 4) ability to utilize matrix habitats. Here I describe these variables in relation to black and white …

What Anthropologists Should Know About The New Evolutionary Synthesis, Cameron M. Smith, Julia Cleverly Ruppell

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Discoveries of modern biology are forcing a re-evaluation of even the central pillars of neo- Darwinian evolution. Anthropologists study the processes and results of biological and biocultural evolution, so they must be aware of the scope and nature of these changes in biology. We introduce these changes, comment briefly on how will influence anthropology, and suggest numerous readings to introduce anthropologists to the significance and substance of the new evolutionary synthesis.

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 39, 2010-2011, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology

The Scavenging Behaviour Of The Australian Raven (Corvus Coronoides): Patterns And Influencing Factors, R. Christopher O'Brien, Alexande Larcombe, Jan Meyer, Shari L. Forbes, Ian Dadour

Forensic Science Publications

The Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) is a widespread, abundant corvid which is often considered a pest species, due to the thought that it predates on livestock, ruin crops, and is often seen feeding on refuse, in both urban and rural areas. The species is known to feed on a range of material from seeds in ploughed fields to human refuse and decomposing organic material. A large proportion of its diet consists of carrion, and as such, the Australian Raven is an effective detrivorous species capable of removing and consuming dead and decomposing carcasses. This research examined the scavenging …

Criminal Offending Among Respondents To Protective Orders: Crime Types And Patterns That Predict Victim Risk, Carol E. Jordan, Adam J. Pritchard, Danielle Duckett, Richard Charnigo

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

Research has shown that respondents to protective orders have robust criminal histories and that criminal offending behavior often follows issuance of a protective order. Nonetheless, the specific nature of the association between protective orders and criminal offending remains unclear. This study uses two classes of statistical models to more clearly delineate that relationship. The models reveal factors and characteristics that appear to be associated with offending and protective order issuance and provide indications about when a victim is most at risk and when the justice system should be most ready to provide immediate protection.

Twenty-Eight Years Of The Us-Lter Program: Experience, Results, And Research Questions, James R. Gosz, Robert B. Waide, John J. Magnuson

Long Term Ecological Research Network

The U.S. Long Term Ecological Research program (hereafter US-LTER) concentrates on ecological processes that play out at the time scales spanning decades to centuries. This focuses US-LTER research between the most common time scales for ecological studies (1-3 years; Tilman 1989; Figure 1) and the much longer temporal fact of disciplines such as paleoecology. The importance of the decade-to-century time scale is particularly evident in light of the rapid changes in ecological forcing functions that are occurring at a broad range of spatial scales (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007). Long-term data sets from programs such …

Robert Knight, Robert Knight, Margaret Devore

Voices from the Stream: An Environmental History of the St. Johns River

Robert Knight, leading expert and scientist working on protection of Florida springs and executive director of the Florida Springs Institute, interviewed by Margaret Devore on November 10, 2010.

Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Do Not Explain The Hiv Epidemics In Africa: A Systematic Review Of The Evidence, Larry Sawers, Eileen Stillwaggon

Economics Faculty Publications

The notion that concurrent sexual partnerships are especially common in sub-Saharan Africa and explain the region’s high HIV prevalence is accepted by many as conventional wisdom. In this paper, we evaluate the quantitative and qualitative evidence offered by the principal proponents of the concurrency hypothesis and analyze the mathematical model they use to establish the plausibility of the hypothesis.

We find that research seeking to establish a statistical correlation between concurrency and HIV prevalence either finds no correlation or has important limitations. Furthermore, in order to simulate rapid spread of HIV, mathematical models require unrealistic assumptions about frequency of sexual …

Sleep, Bmi, And Work-Family Conflict: A Gender Comparison Of U.S. Workers, Blake Lee Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine how sleep problems, Body Mass Index (BMI), and poverty were related to several work, personal, and family variables in a sample of married male and female workers in the United States. The data for this study came from the National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW) 2008. This large, nationally representative dataset provided a resource for examining potential gender differences in variables that have been linked to sleep problems and increases in BMI, as well as how each of these variables relate to several work, personal, and family life outcomes, including …

The Mexican Spotted Owl Controversy: An Example Of The Esa’S Dominant Role In Federal Land Use Planning, Norman D. James

The Past, Present, and Future of Our Public Lands: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Public Land Law Review Commission’s Report, One Third of the Nation’s Land (Martz Summer Conference, June 2-4)

19 pages, including illustrations and a map.

Includes footnotes.

Includes a 7 page publication by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southwest Region, titled: Changing Conditions in Southwestern Forests and Implications on Land Stewardship.

Treatment Of Displaced Indigenous Populations In Two Large Hydro Projects In Panama, Mary Finley-Brook, Curtis Thomas

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

The World Commission on Dams provided an analytical overview of the cumulative effects of years of dam development. A lack of commitment or capacity to cope with displacement or to consider the civil rights of, or risks to, displaced people led to the impoverishment and suffering of tens of millions and growing opposition to dams by affected communities worldwide. However, after the WCD, little has changed for the better in terms of resettlement policies. In fact, the standards of key agencies, like the Asian Development Bank, have been lowered and diluted compared to prior policies. Dam-induced development and displacement are …

Time And Complexity In Historical Ecology: Studies In The Neotropical Lowlands, Alf Hornborg

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Book review of Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands. William Balée and Clark L. Erickson, editors. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. The Historical Ecology Series. xii + 417 pp., maps, figures, tables, notes, references, index. $80.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-231-13288-3. [www.columbia.edu/cu/cup]