Digital Commons Network^™

Causes And Consequences Of The Postfire Increase In Deer Mouse (Peromyscus Maniculatus) Abundance, Rafal Pawel Zwolak

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildfire triggers an increase in deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) abundance. Here, I describe this phenomenon, investigate its causes, and explore the consequences of the postfire increase in mice for conifer recruitment in burned forest. I documented a shift in small mammal communities away from more specialized species such as red-backed voles (Myodes gapperi) and shrews (Sorex spp.) and towards greater abundance of generalist deer mice after a wildfire in montane forest. I conducted a meta-analysis of published studies on the abundance of small mammals in disturbed versus undisturbed forests and established that the pattern of increased deer mouse abundance holds …

Changes In Osteoarthritis Of The Elbow And Shoulder Joints In Women When Trasitioning From Hunting And Gathering To An Agricultural Subsistence, Kirsten Anne Green

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Changes in bone morphology have always been a concern of physical anthropologists who are trying to explain a culture's everyday activity. These types of changes, including arthritic and musculoskeletal, are based on subjective observation of the researcher and therefore subject to observer error. I used three samples; the Indian Knoll sample, the Nutwood and Rosedale Mound sample, and a control sample from the Terry collection I was able to employ a scoring method based on Hawkey (1988). This current research uses the scoring method for arthritic changes in women to test for changes in patterns of distribution and/or severity when …

Chronic Low-Level Pb Exposure During Development Alters Proteins Involved In Energy Metabolism In Auditory Neurons Of The Brainstem, John Prins

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Low level lead (Pb) exposure is a risk factor for neurological dysfunction including ADHD. How Pb produces these behavioral deficits is unknown, but low-level exposure during development is associated with auditory temporal processing deficits, even though hearing remains normal. Pb disrupts cellular energy metabolism and efficient energy production is crucial for auditory neurons to maintain their high rates of synaptic activity. The voltage dependent ion channel (VDAC) is an ion channel involved in the regulation of mitochondrial physiology and is a critical component in controlling mitochondrial energy production. No studies to date have investigated the effect of Pb on VDAC, …

A Landscape Approach To Grassland Bird Conservation In The Prairie Pothole Region Of The Northern Great Plains, Frank Royce Quamen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Prairie is one of the most imperiled ecosystems, and grassland birds have experienced steeper and more consistent declines than any other group of birds in North America. Habitat-based planning tools are a cornerstone of conservation in forested ecosystems, but remain a novel approach in grasslands. In Chapter 2, I develop spatially-explicit habitat models as decision support tools for conservation. I survey birds, measure local vegetation and quantify landscape features at 952 sites in western Minnesota and northwest Iowa. Findings indicate that cropland provides little habitat for grassland songbirds and that hayland does not compensate for loss of grasslands. Multiscale models …

Custer's Last Drag: An Examination Of Tobacco Use Among The Seventh Cavalry During The Nineteenth Century, Shannon Marjorie Vihlene

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tobacco has played an integral role in global history, and there are numerous historical records related to tobacco use over the past five hundred years. The odontological evidence recovered from the Custer National Battlefield infers a high frequency of tobacco use within the Seventh Calvary, yet nineteenth century historical records fail to mention such intensive use in the Seventh Calvary. This paper will briefly discuss late nineteenth century tobacco culture and apply that to a bioarchaeological research project associated with remains from the Custer National Battlefield to addresses this contradiction between historical and physical records.

Design, Synthesis And Biological Evaluation Of A Family Of Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 3 (Eaat3) Preferring Inhibitors, Terri Lynn Mavencamp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This work describes the synthesis and initial characterization of the biological activity of a family of EAAT3 preferring inhibitors, L-β-benzyl aspartate (L-β-BA) and L-β-BA derivatives. L-β-BA and derivatives were initially synthesized in an approximate 2:1 ratio of diasteromers (threo:erythro), using base promoted enolate addition. Kinetic analysis of 3H-D-aspartate uptake into C17.2 cells expressing the hEAATs demonstrated that L-threo-β-BA is the more potent diastereomer (Ki values of 9 µM for EAAT1, 10.0 µM for EAAT2 and 0.8 µM for EAAT3), acts competitively, and exhibits a 10-fold preference for EAAT3 compared to EAAT1 and EAAT2. Electrophysiological recordings of EAAT-mediated currents in Xenopus …

Exploring The Benefits Of An Outdoor Adventure Program For Improving Self-Esteem And Self-Efficacy And Reducing Problem Behaviors In Adolescent Girls, Kristen O'Shea

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The study assessed change in self-efficacy, self-esteem, and problem behaviors from pre-treatment to post-treatment and at 6-month follow-up for adolescent girls enrolled in an outdoor adventure program. Family security and previous program experience were also considered. Participants included 62 girls (ages 10 - 18) from diverse ethnic and SES backgrounds (the majority were Euro American from middle class backgrounds). As expected, problem behaviors were negatively correlated with self-esteem throughout the trip; they were negatively correlated with self-efficacy at 6-month follow-up. Girls from "higher security" families reported significantly higher levels of self-esteem (p < .05) and fewer problem behaviors (p < .01) than girls from "lower security" families. A principal components analysis (PCA) was run to review test properties of one of the study measures, the modified General Self-Efficacy Scales. Limitations of the study, including low power and few statistically significant results, are discussed.

Mallard Nesting Ecology In The Great Lakes, Jonas Ian Davis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding how habitat features influence vital rates that drive population growth is fundamental for delivery of effective conservation programs. Past decisions in management of Great Lakes mallard (Anas platyrynchos) populations were based largely on paradigms established in the mid-continent because regional data were lacking. Recent sensitivity analyses from the Great Lakes Mallard Study show that population growth (i.e., λ) is most sensitive to changes in nest success (16%) and duckling survival (32%). In spring of 2001 to 2003, as part of the Great Lakes Mallard Study, 536 mallards were radio-marked at nine sites in four states (Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and …

Disruption Of 8-Hydroxy-2'-Deoxyguanosine Dna Glycosylase (Ogg1) Antioxidant Response Capacity By Sodium Arsenite, David Paul Cox

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine DNA glycosylase is the first step and rate-limiting enzyme involved in the removal of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine via the base excision repair pathway. Transcriptional regulation of human Ogg1 is sensitive to redox changes via modulation of intracellular glutathione. In response to changes in glutathione, changes in hOgg1 transcription occur similar to genes regulated by the transcription factor Nrf2. It was determined that positions - 47 to - 44 in the hOgg1 promoter are necessary for basal transcription of Ogg1 determined by site-directed deletion. This region is capable of interacting with nuclear protein determined by binding assays. Furthermore, transcription factor Nrf2 is …

Peter Severinus: From Humours To Chemistry In The Sixteenth Century, Michael T. Walton, Robert M. Fineman

Quidditas

The re-discovery of the works of Mendel and others has added greatly to our understanding of genetics. Such is now the case of Peter Severinus, with the recent recovery (or re-discovery) of his seminal work, Idea Medicinae Philosophicae (1571). Severinus concurred with Paracelsus’s (1493-1541) concept of seeds (little chemical factories) that worked on matter to form living things; but he was also aware of transplantation (grafting and cross-pollination) that changed phenotypes and genotypes in plants. Severinus applied this understanding to hereditary diseases in humans and extended Paracelsian theory. He believed that certain diseases in one’s offspring were caused by a …

Instead Of Enda, A Course Correction For Title Vii, Jennifer S. Hendricks

Publications

In September 2008, the D.C. federal court issued a landmark decision holding that discrimination against a transgender person was sex discrimination under Title VII. This decision throws into sharp relief the ongoing debates among supporters of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act about whether the compromise on including protection for gender identity claims. Consideration of ENDA in some form will likely be early on the agenda of the next Congress, especially under a Democratic administration likely to support the bill. This essay proposes an alternative to ENDA that would embrace the theoretical connections between sex, gender, and sexual orientation, with important practical …

An Introduction To Systems Biology For Mathematical Programmers, Evind Almaas, Allen G. Holder, Kevin D. Livingstone

Mathematics Faculty Research

Many recent advances in biology, medicine and health care are due to computational efforts that rely on new mathematical results. These mathematical tools lie in discrete mathematics, statistics & probability, and optimization, and when combined with savvy computational tools and an understanding of cellular biology they are capable of remarkable results. One of the most significant areas of growth is in the field of systems biology, where we are using detailed biological information to construct models that describe larger entities. This chapter is designed to be an introduction to systems biology for individuals in Operations Research (OR) and mathematical programming …

Wildland Firefighter Health Risks And Respiratory Protection, Claire Austin

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Cliquez ici pour la version française de ce rapport

Les pompiers forestiers sont exposés à un mélange complexe de produits de combustion, inclusion faite du monoxyde de carbone, de vapeurs et de gaz irritants, d’agents cancérogènes, de particules inhalables et de nanoparticules. Ils fournissent un niveau d’effort considérable lorsqu’ils combattent des incendies, et leurs quarts de travail peuvent s’étendre jusqu’à 16 heures ou plus.

Des études sur les pompiers forestiers ont été réalisées aux États-Unis et en Australie, mais jamais au Québec. Ces pompiers font souvent état de troubles respiratoires et neurologiques. Une déperdition de la fonction respiratoire a aussi …

The Meaning Of Work, Mental Health And Organizational Commitment, Estelle Morin

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Cliquez ici pour la version française de ce rapport

Le projet présenté ici vise à déterminer les facteurs reliés au sens du travail qui ont un impact sur la santé mentale au travail et l’engagement organisationnel. Les résultats attendus sont d'une part, vérifier les relations entre les facteurs du sens au travail, la santé mentale au travail et l’engagement organisationnel et d'autre part, recommander des actions visant à corriger ou améliorer les facteurs qui affectent le sens du travail.

Les hypothèses suivantes ont été testées :

1. Les caractéristiques du travail suivantes sont positivement corrélées entre elles : l’utilité du travail, …

Développement De Marqueurs Et Validation D’Outils De Diagnostic Pour Le Dépistage De L’Hypersensibilité Induite Par Le Béryllium, Michel Fournier, Jacques Bernier, Pauline Brousseau, Daniel Cyr, Guy Viel, Sébastien Sauvé

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Le béryllium est connu pour sa grande toxicité. Il provoque, suite à l’inhalation de poussières ou de vapeurs des pneumopathies sévères (bérylliose) et des atteintes chroniques dite maladie chronique du béryllium (MCB). En moyenne, 1à 20% des travailleurs exposés deviennent sensibilisés, desquels 1 à 10 % développent la MCB. Il existe un test de laboratoire couramment utilisé pour déceler la sensibilisation d’un travailleur au béryllium; il s’agit du test de prolifération des lymphocytes en présence de béryllium le "Beryllium Lymphocyte Proliferation Test" (BeLPT). Bien que ce test permette de détecter la sensibilisation, il offre peu de valeur prédictive quant aux …

Framing Wrongful Convictions, Susan S. Bandes

Utah Law Review

Concern over wrongful convictions has led to an “innocence movement” that has managed to bridge ideological divides, rouse people to action, and achieve unprecedented success in reforming the operation of the death penalty. In this short Article, written as part of the symposium “Beyond Biology: Wrongful Convictions in a Post-DNA World,” I consider the fraught terms of the debate about the content of the category of wrongful convictions. Delineating the category raises two controversial issues: who should be considered wrongly convicted, and how to characterize the governmental misconduct that leads to these miscarriages of justice. This Article considers whether it …

Providing A Safe Harbor For Those Who Play By The Rules: The Case For A Strong Regulatory Compliance Defense, Richard C. Ausness

Utah Law Review

On September 25, 2003, a fire broke out at the National Health Care (NHC) nursing home facility in Nashville, Tennessee, causing sixteen deaths and a number of injuries from smoke inhalation.1 Thirty-two victims subsequently filed suit against the nursing home, alleging that NHC was negligent for failing to install sprinklers in its facility.2 This claim was made notwithstanding the fact that applicable federal, state, and local safety regulations did not require the installation of sprinklers in this particular type of building, and notwithstanding that the NHC facility had been inspected by state fire inspectors just months before the fire and …

Disability And “Late Style” In Music, Joseph N. Straus

Publications and Research

“Late style” is a longstanding aesthetic category in all the arts. Late-style music is presumed to have certain internal qualities (such as fragmentation, intimacy, nostalgia, or concision) and to be associated with certain external factors (such as the age of the composer, his or her proximity to and foreknowledge of death, lateness within a historical period, or a sense of authorial belatedness with respect to significant predecessors). Upon closer inspection, it appears that many of these external factors are unreliably correlated with a musical style that might be described as late. Late style is often better correlated with the bodily …

Fundamentals Of Biology 1 Lab, Todd Schraw

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Chemical Analysis Of Polymer Blends Via Synchrotron X-Ray Tomography, Heath Alan Barnett

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Material properties of industrial polymer blends are of great importance. X-ray tomography has been used to obtain spatial chemical information about various polymer blends. The spatial images are acquired with synchrotron X-ray tomography because of its rapidity, good spatial resolution, large field-of-view, and elemental sensitivity. The spatial absorption data acquired from X-ray tomography experiments is converted to spatial chemical information via a linear least squares fit of multi-spectral X-ray absorption data. A fiberglass-reinforced polymer blend with a new-generation flame retardant is studied with multi-energy synchrotron X-ray tomography to assess the blend homogeneity. Relative to other composite materials, this sample is …

Dactyls Reveal Evolutionary Patterns In Decapod Crustaceans, Jeffrey Guy Agnew

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Because of their high preservation potential and uses in foraging and defense, decapod crustacean dactyls (movable fingers of claws) are potentially excellent test subjects for an ongoing debate concerning the relative importance of top-down (predators) and bottom-up (prey) controls on morphologic diversification and evolution. The utility of dactyls for inferring evolutionary patterns were evaluated using living and subfossil xanthoid crabs sampled from the southeast U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, and were used to: (1) distinguish the roles of selection and constraint on dactyl morphology through allometric and shape comparisons in the context of the crab’s phylogenetic relationships and …

Fabrication Of Micro Bumps For Micro Scale Thermal Management, Ajay Ashok Kardak

LSU Master's Theses

Cryopreservation is storage of biological systems at ultra low temperatures for a prolonged duration; such that they can be thawed and restored to the same living state. It is important to understand the behavior of cells when they are subjected to subzero temperatures. Research in this area has shown the occurrence of two main biophysical events; cellular dehydration and intracellular ice formation. Current techniques for characterizing the dehydration in cells as part of a tissue are not adequate for studying intracellular ice formation in tissues. An integrated device consisting of an array of thermal sensors (microthermocouples) and actuators (microthermoelectric coolers) …

Three Papers On The Behavior Modeling Of The Shrimp Fishermen In The Gulf Of Mexico, Tao Ran

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The overall goal of this research is to empirically analyze shrimp fishermen behavior to help improve the management of the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fleet. Given that optimal management requires consideration of more than the net benefits derived from shrimp harvesting, this research also seeks to provide an empirical framework that would allow future investigators to measure benefits lost through bycatch-related management actions. This paper expands on previous fishing behavior literature by focusing on two of the most important short-run decisions confronting Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishermen (where to fish and how long to fish). A better understanding of these …

Sex-Specific Feeding Rates And Provisioning Of Fruit To Nestling Bell's Vireo, Greg H. Farley

The Prairie Naturalist

Provisioning of fruit to nestlings and possible sex-specific differences in feeding rate have not been reported for Bell's vireo (Vireo bellii; Brown 1993). While studying nesting ecology of Bell's vireo on Konza Prairie Biological Station, Geary and Riley counties, Kansas, I quantified feeding rate by sex and food type delivered to nestlings. Sex was determined by capturing adults with mist-nets and inspecting for a cloacal protuberance, as well as conducting behavioral observations of uniquely-marked individuals. Males sing regularly while moving around territories, as well as during incubation (Nolan 1960). I assigned "female" to the individual in these socially …

Zoological Label As Literary Form, Victor Fet

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Nabokov’s work is seen through the unique concept of zoological labels and their language. A label, written by a young naturalist, is a concentrated source of information, detail, and “naming the unnamed”; it reflects three Aristotelian unities (place, time, action).

Telemetric Assessment Of Stereotypical Motor Movements In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Matthew S. Goodwin

Open Access Dissertations

Stereotypical motor movements are one of the most common and least understood behaviors occurring in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). When severe, engagement in these behaviors can lead to social stigmatization and complicate social interaction. Moreover, if a stereotypical motor movement becomes a dominant behavior in an individual's repertoire, it can interfere with the performance of established skills and acquisition of new skills, and may lead to self-injurious behavior. Stereotypical motor movements are complex and thought to serve a multiplicity of functions. However, problems with traditional methods for measuring stereotypical motor movements have made it difficult to determine when …

Coping With Everyday Classism: Experiences Of Low-Income People In A Southeastern Rural Community, Susan Faye Ritz

Open Access Dissertations

The present research provided an in-depth look at experiencing and coping with everyday classism in a sample of low-income people in a mid-size southeastern rural United States community. The study employed a qualitative methodology consisting of semi-structured interviews and analyzing the collected data using Grounded Theory Method. Of 50 participants selected for an interview, 40 described experiences with classism, each discussing two incidents, for a total of 80 incidents shared. Seven of the remaining 10 participants felt that they had not experienced classism, but at the same time, they provided insight into one proactive coping strategy that they appeared to …

Applications Of Linear And Cyclic Peptides As Enzyme Inhibitors And Molecular Transporters, Guofeng Ye

Open Access Dissertations

The diversity of amino acids in peptides allows the design of different linear or cyclized compounds. Peptides can be designed to act as inhibitors, probes, or molecular transporters of other molecules. The objective of this dissertation research was to exploit the diversity of peptide structures and focused on developing linear and cyclic peptides as c-Src inhibitors and using the information derived from c-Src crystal structure to design novel peptide-based molecular transporters. A series of peptide analogues of Ac-CIYKYY were designed and synthesized to improve the inhibitory potency against active Src Linear peptide Ac-CIYKF(4-NO 2)Y (IC50 = 0.53 μM) and a …

Analysis Of Resonating Microcantilevers Operating In A Viscous Liquid Environment, Cyril Vančura, Isabelle Dufour, Stephen M. Heinrich, Fabien Josse, Andreas Hierlemann

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The characteristics of resonant cantilevers in viscous liquids are analyzed. Various rectangular cantilevers geometries are studied in pure water, glycerol and ethanol solutions of different concentrations, and the results are described in terms of the added displaced liquid mass and the liquid damping force for both, the resonance frequency and the quality factor (Q-factor). Experimental results using a set of magnetically actuated resonant cantilevers vibrating in the out-of-plane (“weak-axis bending”) mode are presented and compared to theoretical calculations. The importance of the study is in the use of resonant cantilevers as biochemical sensors in liquid environments.

Health Effects Of Nanoparticles, Claude Ostiguy, Brigitte Soucy, Gilles Lapointe, Catherine Woods, Luc Ménard, Mylène Trottier

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Cliquez ici pour la version française de ce rapport

Research in the nanoparticle (NP) and nanotechnology field is growing at a breathtaking pace. The reason is simple: the unique properties of NP will allow the development of products with unprecedented characteristics and opportunities in every field of human activity, and with tremendous economic impacts. It is currently anticipated that the number of exposed Quebec workers, not only in manufacturing these products but also in using and processing them, will increase over the next few years. Several products are already available commercially and some Quebec companies now have large-scale NP production …