Digital Commons Network^™

Seeing Red: Analyzing Iucn Red List Data Of South And Southeast Asian Amphibians, Alexandra Gonzalez

Master's Theses

In the midst of the sixth mass extinction event which is currently underway, it appears that amphibians are one of the most impacted vertebrates. Over 6,500 amphibian species are listed on the IUCN Red List (an assessment tool which provides species’ conservation status, perceived threats, and distribution range). While it is well-known that populations under multiple stressors are more likely to undergo significant declines, there are little to no resources available for visualizing how these threats may work synergistically and interact within a species’ range. This is especially the case for Southeast Asian amphibians, which much less attention has been …

Female Risk Aversion: Experimental Evidence From Myanmar, O Mandalay

Master's Theses

Present literature shows that the risk tolerance of females is generally lower than that of males, but in some circumstances, it can exceed – when concerning the welfare of the offspring, for example. Many experiments and data suggest that the dynamics of female risk tolerance depend on context and type of rewards involved as well as cultural norms. In our experiment, holding the culture and the context fixed, we found that females took less risk than males. Our experiment was conducted in Myanmar using a lottery selection method to measure risk over five consecutive rounds. We found 1) female risk …

Lived Experiences Of Queer Female Youth In High School, Ruth Etcheverria

Master's Theses

The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of self-identified queer female high school students in relation to experiences with their peers related to sexuality. Through semi-structured interviews, the three participants of this study poured out anecdotes of coming out, and sexuality-related common or unique interactions with peers. Additionally, the participants shared their perspectives surrounding the ways peers have supported and/or marginalized them based on their sexuality. Queer feminist theory is engaged to explore the intersectional experiences of the queer female participants as they recount stories of coming out to classmates, supportive friendships, and daily exposure to homophobic …

Impact Of Innovative Menstrual Technology And Awareness On Female Empowerment Outcomes In Rural Nepal, Anjali Limbu

Master's Theses

In developing countries, menstruation poses two significant challenges for females. First, the resources required for periods are expensive for those in low-income communities. Hence, the absence of such menstrual products lowers females’ access to schooling and employment. Next, periods are also heavily stigmatized – especially in poorer or rural areas. Such taboos surrounding menstruation negatively impacts females’ psychological development and hamper their prospects of socialization. Thus, to analyze this issue, we ran a randomized control trial in Nepal, where we provided reusable menstrual pads and / or health seminar to 312 schoolgirls and 100 of their mothers. Our outcomes demonstrate …

The Effect Of Participant Gender And Exposure To Social Embarrassment Messages On Evaluations Of Binge Drinking Messages, Seth Mccullock

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Otus And Asvs In 73 Bird Species From Equatorial Guinea, Darien Capunitan

Master's Theses

As scientists discover more information about the communities of bacteria that live on and inside hosts, "the microbiome", a new avenue for understanding the health of humans and animals has opened. There are many analysis pipelines for microbiome data processing, and choice of analytical tools can affect the biological results of the analysis. The current analysis climate does not point toward a single most effective protocol, which hinders comparisons across studies. An important step in microbiome data processing is the assignment of reads into groups of similar organisms. The traditional unit for grouping organisms is the species; however resolving sequences …

The Use Of Econsults To Improve Access To Dermatological Care For Underserved Populations In Connecticut, Fludiona Naka

Master's Theses

Importance: Medically underserved populations receiving care at community health centers lack access to specialty care.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a dermatology electronic consultation (eConsult) program on a statewide scale focusing on access to care for medically underserved patients.

Design: Retrospective cohort study of 2385 dermatology referrals from June 2014 through November 2015.

Setting: Large, multi-site Federally Qualified Health Center in Connecticut.

Participants: Dermatology referrals pre-eConsult implementation from June to November 2014 (n=1258) and post-eConsult implementation from June to November 2015 (n=1127). All referrals came from primary care providers from twelve primary care sites in CT.

Intervention: Implementation of …

Telomerase Activator 65 (Ta-65) Favorably Affects Parameters Of Metabolic Syndrome - A Pilot Study, Minu Sara Thomas

Master's Theses

Abstract

Background: Telomerase Activator 65 (TA-65), a compound extracted from Astragalus membranaceus, was developed to increase or maintain telomere length. Objectives: To determine the effects of TA-65 on the parameters of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Methods: We recruited 40 patients aged 32-70 years with MetS to determine the effects of TA-65 on dyslipidemias and anthropometrics in this at-risk population. This was a double-blind, randomized crossover design in which patients were allocated to consume either 16 mg daily of a TA-65 supplement or placebo for 12 weeks. Following a 3-week washout, participants were allocated to the alternate treatment for an …

Conferring Diva Capability To A Commercially-Available Csfv Elisa: A Double-Competition Approach, Yuxiang Wang

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Maternal Diet And Energy Demands On Offspring Development, Growth, And Health, Mary C. Wynn

Master's Theses

Maternal programming can have numerous detrimental effects on offspring development, growth, and health. To improve livestock production efficiency, it is necessary to determine the mechanisms that can result in reduced growth, health, and product quality. We hypothesized that 1) restricted- and over-feeding during gestation would inhibit offspring muscle development, and 2) high maternal milk production would affect factors involved in offspring growth and immunity. To investigate the effects of poor maternal nutrition on offspring muscle development and growth, pregnant Western White-faced ewes (n = 82) were randomly assigned to one of three diets at day 30 of gestation through parturition; …

Spatial Variability In Abundance, Detectability And Survival Of White-Tailed Deer Across A Heterogeneous Landscape Of Fear, Jennifer Kilburn

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Light And Electron Microscopy Analysis Of Gold Nanoparticle Penetration In Stiffness Varying 3d Tumor Spheroids, Mathangi Madhavan

Master's Theses

Mechanical properties have always been considered one of the primary biomarkers in distinguishing normal cells from tumor cells. The prime purpose of this thesis was to study and analyze the penetration of gold nanoparticles in different stiffness , same sized and varying time-points 3D tumor spheroids using light and electron microscopy techniques. Recently a lot of attention has been given to the culture of cancer spheroids for applications such as drug delivery, nanoparticles interaction, and penetration. Such analysis requires high-quality imaging modalities like transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In this study, a set of spheroids were cryo-sectioned to study the distribution …

Circulating Heat Shock Protein Responses During Exercise In A Hot And Humid Environment, Virgilio Lopez Iii

Master's Theses

Given that hyperthermia and other exercise-stress induce cellular release of HSPs into circulation, it is important to consider the contribution of circulating HSP concentrations ([HSPs]) on systemic inflammation associated with exertional heat stroke pathophysiology (EHS). We compared the circulating [HSP90alpha], [HSP60], [HSP70], and [HSP27] in two athletic events with high and low incidences of EHS. The aims were to characterize the changes in circulating [HSPs] from pre- to post-event and to elucidate the potential for HSPs as EHS susceptibility biomarkers. Thirty (age: 44±11year; height: 174.89±9.5cm; mass: 74.2±14.05kg; BMI: 24.11±3.13kg × m^-2; %body fat: 19.74±4.03%) and fifty-six participants (age: …

Assessment Of The Effects Of Riparian Buffer Zones On Water Quality In The Jinghe Catchment Using The Annagnps And Remm Models, Cong Liu

Master's Theses

Direct discharge of sediments and agricultural chemicals into rivers is a major areal source for surface water pollution. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact on water quality by converting riverside crop fields to riparian buffer zones at river basin scale. The Jinghe catchment of the Weihe River basin in China, a heavily cultivated watershed in the middle reach of the Yellow River basin, was selected for this study. The Annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Model (AnnAGNPS) was used to simulate water and sediment loadings from upland fields. These generated upland loadings then were used as inputs to run …

Development Of Tools For A 3d Reconstructed Intracortical Volume Around Microelectrode Arrays, Aparna Nambiar

Master's Theses

Extensive research using penetrating electrodes implanted in the central and peripheral nervous systems has been performed for many decades with significant advances made in recent years. While these penetrating devices provide proximity to individual neurons in-vivo and perform effectively for several months, they are prone to failure over a year and longer. 2D Histology studies using serial tissue sections have been extremely insightful over the years in identifying and quantifying most of these factors such as astrocytic scar formation, microgliosis, and neuronal death, around the implant sites. However, there are significant limitations of 2D histological studies in providing a holistic …

Protein Nanoparticles For Use In Photodynamic Therapy, Melissa Limbacher

Master's Theses

Bovine serum albumin was cross-linked under controlled conditions to form protein colloidal nanoparticles, and particle size has been controlled from 20 to 100 ± 10 nm by choosing appropriate reaction conditions. The particles are then labeled with a small set of fluorescent dyes and the absorption as well as the emission wavelengths of the colloids (GlowDots) are controlled without changing the particle size, unlike quantum dots. GlowDots are convenient for cellular imaging and therefore, we examined their photochemcial stabilities under defined sets of conditions. For example, GlowDots that have peak absorption wavelengths at 494, 543, and 576 had sufficient stabilities …

Current Status Of Professional Networks Addressing Sex Education In The United States: An Initial Exploratory Thematic Analysis, Aliya Subhit

Master's Theses

Sex education in the United States has been a highly debated topic. The history of sex education depicts the changing narratives of both the public and the government’s ideals on the topic. Due to the discrepancy between the publics attitudes and perceptions versus the governments ideals, this thesis is the first of its kind to conduct an initial thematic analysis of available bodies of knowledge across the five core mental health disciplines (i.e., marriage and family therapy, psychiatry, clinical psychology, clinical social work, and psychiatric nursing) to determine how the current state of sex education programs in the U.S. is …

Assessment Of Cranial Neural Crest Cell Differentiation Towards An Osteoblastic Fate, Sean Congdon

Master's Theses

The world health organization estimates that craniofacial defects affect between 2-3% of all live births, with complications ranging from aesthetic issues to severe mental retardation (Marcucio 2015). It is estimated that for a pathology resulting in craniofacial aberrations, each affected individual costs society ~1 million dollars in corrective and palliative care (Singh 2014). Current investigations into genetics underlying these defects have revealed 564 human (HPO 2017) and 3297 murine (MGI 2017) genes thought to be involved in craniofacial pathologies. Facial development requires a population of cells known as Cranial Neural Crest Cells (CNCCs) to properly migrate from the neural plate …

The Burden Of Child Sexual Abuse In Connecticut Emergency Departments, 2011 To 2014, Kathryn Bentivegna

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Aspects Of Weight Management In Ncaa Division Iii Collegiate Wrestlers 2018, Matthew Martone B.S., Cscs

Master's Theses

Objective: The purpose of this study was to observe the weight management habits of division III collegiate wrestlers during the week leading up to a competition. Methods: Subjects reported to the lab on Monday morning after an overnight fast. Subjects were measured for height and weight and were asked to provide urine and blood samples for analysis of hydration and creatine kinase activity, respectively. Throughout the week, subjects were weighed in and out of practice to monitor daily weight fluctuations. Subjects also self-recorded all food and drink consumption throughout the 5-day period. On Saturday morning, approximately 1 hour before weigh-ins …

The Role Of Emotion Regulation In The Relationship Between Trait Anger And Relational Aggression, Skylar Hicks

Master's Theses

Relational aggression (RA) has been linked to a number of serious problems for all age ranges, especially in young children, adolescents, and emerging adults. Elevated trait anger appears to be positively related to both peer and romantic RA, and there is some evidence that difficulties with emotion regulation are positively associated with RA as well. The present study investigated the role of emotion regulation as a potential moderator of the relationship between trait anger and RA in a college student sample (N = 307) while taking general negative affect into account. As expected, trait anger was a positive predictor …

Detection, Activity Measurement And Phylogeny Of Ureolytic Bacteria Isolated From Elasmobranch Tissue, Yimu Yang

Master's Theses

Free-ranging marine elasmobranch tissue-associated micro-organisms were cultured from free-ranging Atlantic stingray (Dasyatis sabina) and Atlantic sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae). 16S rRNA gene phylogeny indicated bacteria community structure in both elasmobranchs were under phylum Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria. By conducting split-plot ANOVA, we found the microbial richness is significantly different (P=0.0814) between two superorders of elasmobranch, which may largely due to their preferred habitats and feeding habits. Urease presentence and activity was detected in phylogenetically diverse bacterial strains. Species with high urea-hydrolyzing ability, such as Micrococcus luteus (shark blood isolate: 46.84 mU/mg protein; stingray blood isolate: 24.36 …

Revisiting Magee: A Mississippian Mound Center Site, Nicholas Glass

Master's Theses

Magee is a multi-mound center located in the Southern Yazoo Basin of the Lower Mississippi River Valley (LMV). Originally recorded by Phillip Phillips, James A. Ford, and James B. Griffin in 1941, the site has not been professionally investigated since then (Phillips, Ford, and Griffin: 1951). Based on their surface collection and presence of one large mound surrounded by smaller mounds, their interpretation of the site was that it served as a large ceremonial center for a short period of time, and was utilized primarily for religious purposes (Phillips et al. 2003 [1951]:325-327). Phillip Phillips (1970) dates the site within …

The Moderating Role Of Pbs In The Relationship Between Positive Expectancies And Alcohol-Related Negative Consequences, Kray Scully

Master's Theses

Hazardous drinking college students have become an increasingly focused upon group within alcohol research, especially considering the extent of negative consequences they experience. Recently, increased positive expectancies has been identified as an influential contributor to increased hazardous drinking and alcohol-related negative consequences. However, more comprehensive evaluation of the domains of positive expectancies (e.g., sociability, tension reduction, sexual enhancement, liquid courage) is warranted to ascertain which types are more salient in predicting hazardous drinking and alcohol-related negative consequences. Further, research has yet to explore how protective behavioral strategies (PBS) affect the strength of the associations between specific positive expectancies and alcohol-related …

The Conundrum Of Causal Reasoning In Elephants, Beri Brown

Master's Theses

Causal reasoning is marked by the ability to mentally reconstruct the missing part of a sequence in order to reproduce an outcome. While research on causal reasoning has been done with children, the results of the studies have been inconsistent. A standardized paradigm for comparative causal reasoning studies does not exist. Nissani (2006) investigated causal reasoning in a tool-use task with elephants and concluded that elephants were not capable of causal reasoning. The current study, a modified replication, yielded results that were not congruent with Nissani’s (2006) manuscript. Additionally, it was very unlikely that the Nissani (2006) study truly looked …

The Role And Contribution Of Saprotrophic Fungi During Standing Litter Decomposition Of Two Perennial Grass Species, Schizachyrium Scoparium And Schizachyrium Tenerum, Matthew Lodato

Master's Theses

In terrestrial ecosystems, most of the plant biomass produced enters the detrital pool, where microbial decomposers colonize, enzymatically degrade, and assimilate plant litter carbon and nutrients in amounts sufficient to bring about the decomposition of plant litter. Here, I estimated the biomass and production of fungi and microbial respiration associated with decaying Schizachyrium scoparium and Schizachyrium tenerum leaf litter, and constructed a partial organic matter budget estimating C flow into and through fungal decomposers. Significant losses in S. scoparium (57%) and S. tenerum (68%) leaf mass was observed during litter decomposition along with concomitant increases in fungal biomass, which reached …

From Dago To White: The Story Of Sicilian Ethnic Evolution In New Orleans Amidst The Yellow Fever Epidemic Of 1905, H. Denise Lopresto Saucier

Master's Theses

The story of the Sicilian immigrants’ experiences in Louisiana is a tale of racial and ethnic evolution in the face of physical threats. With the end of the Civil War, many emancipated slaves migrated to other parts of the country, which left Louisiana planters in need of laborers. Planters turned to European labor to fill that need, bringing thousands of Sicilian peasants to work on their plantations. Extreme poverty and oppression made the opportunity to emigrate highly attractive, but Sicilians found problems in Louisiana as well. In addition to low wages, crowded living conditions, discrimination, and violence, the immigrants faced …

Linkages Between Marsh Fragmentation, Prey Availability, And Blue Crab (Callinectes Sapidus) Abundance And Mortality, Lennah Shakeri

Master's Theses

Coastal marshes are important nursery habitats for many commercially important invertebrate species, yet these marshes are being lost worldwide at an unprecedented rate due to subsidence, erosion, climate change, and human activity. As marsh is lost, it creates the opportunity for submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) colonization and establishment in newly created open water areas. Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, use both marsh edge and SAV habitat during the juvenile stages and support one of the largest fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, worth over $70 million in 2015. This thesis studied the linkages between habitat type, SAV cover, benthic prey …

Life-History Characteristics And Fishery Dynamics Of Red Drum (Sciaenops Ocellatus), In The North-Central Gulf Of Mexico, Corbin Bennetts

Master's Theses

Red Drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) are highly targeted recreationally in the Gulf of Mexico, and support a small commercial fishery in Mississippi. Despite their popularity, the stock is assessed using data limited approaches that necessitate accurate life history information. I estimated the year-specific and year-aggregated escapement rates for the Mississippi stock (years 2004 to 2015), which were sensitive to mortality estimation methods; year-aggregated estimates were 6.9 to 28.2 % depending on the method, but temporal patterns were consistent. I then addressed concerns with previously estimated life-history characteristics by describing the sex-specific growth and reproductive dynamics. The three-parameter von Bertalanffy …

Regional Variation In Migratory Behavior And Reproductive Output Of The Gulf Of Mexico Blue Crab Spawning Stock, Adam Kemberling

Master's Theses

The overarching goal of this research was to better understand the structure and boundaries of the blue crab stock(s) in the Gulf of Mexico, focusing on large-scale movements of spawning female crabs. Because spawning location is a primary determinant of larval transport pathways, understanding spawning locations and offshore movements of female blue crabs can inform stock identification and potentially clarify the somewhat conflicting population genetic information available for blue crabs. A large-scale mark-recapture study was conducted through the partnership of state/federal management agencies, the commercial fishing industry, recreational fisherman, tourists, and numerous academic institutions to shed light on the timing …