Digital Commons Network^™

Why Did The Terrapin Cross The Runway?, Laura Francoeur, Alexandra Kanonik, Russell L. Burke

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) have been nesting at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) for decades. In 2009, the airport experienced a surge in terrapin activity that led to closing a portion of a runway. Runway closures may delay aircraft traffic at JFK which in turn can cause a ripple effect with delays at airports across the country. During the months of June and July, the terrapin nesting season coincides with peak travel for aircraft passengers with about 1,200-1,300 aircraft movements per day. The airport began collecting data on terrapins in 2010 to help understand the dynamics. From …

Brown-Headed Cowbird (Molothrus Ater) Response To Pyrotechnics And Lethal Removal In A Controlled Setting, Thomas W. Seamans, Bradley F. Blackwell, Travis L. Devault

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

Pyrotechnics have long been used to frighten birds from specific areas but birds might habituate to them. Anecdotal and limited published reports suggest that killing a flock member can reduce habituation. However, little behavioral work has been conducted in this area. We exposed brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) to noise from either 0.22 caliber blanks or 15-mm pyrotechnics in a series of controlled, cage experiments to determine if killing a flock member increased the time that cowbirds respond to pyrotechnics. Cowbirds responded no differently to pyrotechnics following the death of a flock member either before or after habituation to …

New Rodenticides: An Update On Recent Research Trials, Gary Witmer, Katherine Horak, Rachel Moulton, Roger A. Baldwin

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

Rodents cause substantial amounts of damage and losses of foodstuffs around the world. While various methods are used to reduce damage and losses to rodents, rodenticides remain the most important tool in the toolbox. However, like all tools, rodenticides have advantages and disadvantages. Several considerations are shaping the future of rodenticide use. These include manufacturing and registration costs, concern about toxicity levels and non-target animal hazards, potential hazards to children, reduced effectiveness of some formulations, and humaneness to the targeted rodents. While there have been very few new developments in rodenticides in the last several decades, new formulations and active …

Blackbird Population Management To Protect Sunflower: A History, George M. Linz

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) growers in North Dakota and South Dakota harvested 593,522 ha in 2012, valued at $US600 million. Blackbirds, numbering about 75 million, annually damage 2 to 3% of the crop. Damage tends to be clumped around cattail (Typha spp.) dominated wetlands with standing water. In an attempt to reduce sunflower damage, three general population management strategies have been tested over the past three decades. One potential strategy was to reduce blackbird numbers during winter in the southern U.S. A second strategy was to use an avicide at spring roost sites in eastern South Dakota. A …

Effects Of Increased Nitrogen Deposition On The Dominance Of Hedera Helix In The Pacific Northwest, Bianca Christine Dolan

Dissertations and Theses

Increased nitrogen deposition has been shown to promote the dominance of invasive species, and nitrogen deposition rates have steadily increased in most of the Western United States in recent years due to population increases. The purpose of this study was to determine if increased rates of nitrogen deposition are contributing to the success of Hedera helix in the Pacific Northwest. Plots were established in Lesser Park in Portland, Oregon and received monthly treatments of ammonium nitrate for one year. Growth, measured as change in percent cover, was compared between treated and untreated plots for both H. helix and native species. …

Emu Today, March 25, 2013, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Today

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Goals Scored In The 2010 World Cup Soccer Tournament Held In South Africa, Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu

Health & Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: To analyze the pattern and trends of the goals scored during the 2010 world cup soccer tournament held in South Africa to derive the latest technical and tactical innovations with the hope of applying them at the lower echelons of the game. Methodology: The study was a retrospective one as data were derived from the FIFA (2010) data base. The analysis centered on number of goals; parts of the body used to score; distance from goal; timing of goals in minutes; nature of play preceding a goal; score at half time and winning of the game; open play and …

The Collegian (2013-03-25), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 24

Rapid, Efficient And Versatile Strategies For Functionally Sophisticated Polymers And Nanoparticles: Degradable Polyphosphoesters And Anisotropic Distribution Of Chemical Functionalities, Shiyi Zhang

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The overall emphasis of this dissertation research included two kinds of asymmetrically-functionalized nanoparticles with anisotropic distributions of chemical functionalities, three degradable polymers synthesized by organocatalyzed ring-opening polymerizations, and two polyphosphoester-based nanoparticle systems for various biomedical applications.

Inspired by the many hierarchical assembly processes that afford complex materials in Nature, the construction of asymmetrically-functionalized nanoparticles with efficient surface chemistries and the directional organization of those building blocks into complex structures have attracted much attention. The first method generated a Janus-faced polymer nanoparticle that presented two orthogonally click-reactive surface chemistries, thiol and azido. This robust method involved reactive functional group transfer by …

Factors Of Cultural Perception Of Depression: An Analysis Of Students At The University Of Tennessee At Chattanooga, Rachel Brosius

Honors Theses

This study focuses on the perceptions and beliefs of a population of students from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga toward depression and the contributing cultural factors behind its high prevalence. The study is broken into eight sections that contribute to the overall understanding of depression in Tennessee. First, the current literature on depression and stigmata related to mental illness is examined to catalogue the findings ofresearchers with similar interests. Following this the data collection methods I took to gain the data used in this study are explained as well as the demographic elements of the study. Next the data …

Flagellar Motility Is A Key Determinant Of The Magnitude Of The Inflammasome Response To Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Yash R. Patankar, Rustin R. Lovewell, Matthew E. Poynter, Jeevan Jyot, Barbara I. Kazmierczak, Brent Berwin

Dartmouth Scholarship

We previously demonstrated that bacterial flagellar motility is a fundamental mechanism by which host phagocytes bind and ingest bacteria. Correspondingly, loss of bacterial motility, consistently observed in clinical isolates from chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, enables bacteria to evade association and ingestion of P. aeruginosa by phagocytes both in vitro and in vivo. Since bacterial interactions with the phagocyte cell surface are required for type three secretion system-dependent NLRC4 inflammasome activation by P. aeruginosa, we hypothesized that reduced bacterial association with phagocytes due to loss of bacterial motility, independent of flagellar expression, will lead to reduced inflammasome activation. Here we report …

Facile Synthesis And Improved Pore Structure Characterization Of Mesoporous Γ-Alumina Catalyst Supports With Tunable Pore Size, Baiyu Huang

Theses and Dissertations

Mesoporous γ-alumina is the most extensively used catalysts support in a wide range of catalytic processes. The usefulness of γ-alumina relies on its favorable combination of physical, textural, thermal, and chemical properties. Pore structure properties are among the most important properties, since high surface area and large pore volume enable higher loading of active catalytic phases, while design of pore size and pore size distribution is critical to optimize pore diffusional transport and product selectivity. In addition, accurate determination of surface area (SA), pore volume (PV) and pore size distribution (PSD) of porous supports, catalysts, and nanomaterials is vital to …

The Eastern Echo, March 25, 2013, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Student Newspaper: The Normal News & The Eastern Echo

No abstract provided.

Gender Issues In The Benedictine Rule, Emma Lichtenberg

Undergraduate Student Research Awards

No abstract provided.

The Scorpions Of Hainan Island, China (Arachnida: Scorpiones), Zhi-Yong Di, Zhi-Jian Cao, Ying-Liang Wu, Lin Zhu, Hui Liu, Wen-Xin Li

Euscorpius

The redescriptions and illustrations of three species, Isometrus (Isometrus) maculatus (DeGeer, 1778), Lychas mucronatus (Fabricius, 1798) (Buthidae), and Liocheles australasiae (Fabricius, 1775) (Hemiscorpiidae) from Hainan Island, China are presented. Distribution data and updated key of Hainan scorpions are provided.

Review Of The Subgenus Pandinurus Fet, 1997 With Descriptions Of Three New Species (Scorpiones, Scorpionidae, Pandinus)., František Kovařík

Euscorpius

Pandinus (Pandinurus) awashensis sp. n. from Ethiopia, P. (P.) somalilandus sp. n. from Somaliland, and P. (P.) lowei sp. n. from Democratic Republic of Congo are described and compared with other species of the subgenus. P. (P.) sudanicus Hirst, 1911 stat. n. previously considered a synonym of P. (P.) magrettii Borelli, 1901 is recognized as a valid species. New data on taxonomic characters and distribution of the subgenus Pandinurus are presented. Also presented are a map of distribution, photos of the localities and a key to species using hitherto unpublished characters of the tarsomere spination formula and sexual …

Stepfamily Functioning And Closeness: Children's Views On Second Marriages And Stepfather Relationships, Todd M. Jensen, Kevin Shafer

Faculty Publications

Current research on stepfamily well-being often overlooks the perspective of children, and deals primarily with factors as reported by the adults involved. The authors examine a number of family role characteristics, parental subsystem characteristics, and resources that might influence how children perceive the quality of their stepfamily relationships. A sample of 1,088 children in households with a mother and stepfather, ages 10 to 16 years, in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort—Children and Young Adult Sample, is used for the analyses. Results indicate that open communication between children and their mothers, low amounts of arguing between mothers and …

The Genealogical Series In The Late Middle Ages: A Survey Of The Importance Of Lineage For Dynastic Power, Skye Cornelia

Undergraduate Student Research Awards

No abstract provided.

“Listen Carefully:” A Study Of Ageist Stereotypes And Undergraduates’ Desire To Work With Elders, Genevieve Ilg

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

“Listen Carefully:” A Study of Ageist Stereotypes and Undergraduates’ Desire to Work with Elders identifies and assesses how prior experience with elders and ageist stereotypes informs the degree to which undergraduates are inclined (or disinclined) to consider geriatrics as a potential career. Current literature indicates a lack of interest among social workers and other allied-health professionals in working with this demographic. Here, the “generation gap” not only pertains to the differences between younger people and their elders, but to the gap between the aging population’s increasing demand of need and how many individuals plan to serve the elderly. For this …

Terrains Of Terror And Modern Apparatuses Of Destruction: Organ Transplantation, Markets, And The Commoditized Kidney, Ayan Kassim

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

Recent innovations in biomedicine and medical technologies within the last 40 years have altered understandings of the body and its parts; burgeoning global markets in organs is symptomatic of this. Although procurement policies by most nations solicit organs through donation only, lengthy wait lists have prompted the fiscally privileged sick to pursue other means of survival. In light of the current global realities of kidney trafficking in particular, this paper considers the following questions: How and why has the kidney become a commodity? In what historical moment did a kidney market emerge? What and who are the key actors in …

Ethical Issues In The Drug Approval Process, Meghan Mcinnis

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug approval process carries great significance for both pharmaceutical companies and for patients. In recent decades, there has been a shift towards expedited approval so that drugs, especially those for terminally ill patients, can be brought to market faster. However, the FDA still has the responsibility of protecting patients from harm. The case studies of two drugs, Vioxx and Avastin, highlight several of the ethical and practical issues of the drug approval process, including the nature of clinical trial research, the risk-benefit analysis of new treatments, the growth of Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and …

Sweet Freedom: Smokers’ Rights & The Rebranding Of Philip Morris, Amy Dipierro

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

This paper discusses how Philip Morris invoked strong American values to defend its own corporate speech as well as “smoker’s rights.” In particular, it examines Philip Morris Company’s Bill of Rights advertising campaign of the early 1990s, especially focusing on an advertisement featuring Everett Alvarez, a prisoner of war during Vietnam. This strategy reveals how Philip Morris was able to manipulate the public conversation about smoking from one about health and disease to one about human rights and freedoms.

The Effects Of Pre-Existing Illnesses On Pediatric Acute Respiratory Infections In South Africa, Haley Dumke

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

The intent of this study was to explore the effect of pre-existing illnesses on acute respiratory infections, focusing on HIV and malnutrition as infection development risk factors in South African children. It investigates the economic burden imposed by these infections and analyzes how the country’s current socio-economic situation plays a major part in propagating infection development. Pneumonia and RSV were individually examined for their current role in the disease burden and potential methods for reducing incidence of pediatric respiratory infections were evaluated based on effectiveness and affordability for the country of South Africa. Data for this paper was compiled mainly …

43rd Annual Wku Student Research Conference, Student Research Council, Western Kentucky University

Student Research Conference Select Presentations

No abstract provided.

Study Of Testosterone Reactivity And Its Variance In Response To Skydiving, Swornim Shrestha

Innovate UNO

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the sex hormone testosterone was reactive to an exciting, potentially life threatening situation: skydiving from 14,000 feet. Participants included 32 males and 12 females who provided repeated saliva samples before and after jumping as well as on a baseline day. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used for statistical analysis. Testosterone was highly stable within an individual, x²(29)=1198.8, p<.0001, with 88.75% of the total testosterone variance due to between individual differences. Testosterone showed momentary changes as well. Testosterone changed dramatically in response to skydiving, rising from the start of the experiment until the jump, B=.10, p<.0001, and then declining significantly after the jump, B=-.10, p<.007. Overall, testosterone was not different between jump and basal days, B=.03, p=.74, but there was substantial variation in the basal-day effect, suggesting some individuals had higher while others had lower testosterone on the jump day compared to basal testosterone, x²(29)=221.06, p<.0001. Males had significantly higher testosterone levels, B=-1.09, p<.0001, and showed greater testosterone reactivity than females, B=-.07, p<.025. In conclusion, the sex hormone testosterone changes dramatically in response to an exciting situation like skydiving. These changes are observed despite the overall stability in testosterone from one individual to another. Findings contrast with a previous study that found salivary testosterone was significantly lower on a jump day and were especially low prior to skydiving (Chatterton, Vogelsong, Lu & Hudgens 1997), but fit with an emerging perspective of testosterone as reactive to an individual’s social context.

Effect Of A Curricular And Professional Development Intervention On Elementary Teachers’ Science Content Knowledge, Brandon S. Diamond

Open Access Dissertations

Teacher science content knowledge (SCK) is an important but rarely studied construct. The study examined two research questions using two measures of SCK (i.e., knowledge test and questionnaire) in order to explore changes in SCK over time and to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention at improving SCK as compared to the control group of teachers who did not receive the intervention: (1) Did participation in two years of the study have additional benefits over one year of participation? and (2) Did teacher background variables and treatment group (treatment vs. control) predict teacher SCK at the start of the intervention …

2013 Program: Honors Student Symposium, University Of Dayton. University Honors Program

Honors Student Symposium

No abstract provided.

The Echo: March 22, 2013, Taylor University

2012-2013 (Volume 100)

Off campus, off limits – New data center improves network reliability, security – Halls compete for ‘likes,’ statue of Bishop Taylor – Top five news events of the week – MAHE students visit, interview for assistantships – As spring break trips approach, leaders eye next year – Masters study examines cell phone use among Taylor demographic – In the Loop – Remembering a life fill with community – Hunting for Easter activities – Weather Forecast – Rx drug abuse on the rise in Grant County – Minimum wage meets current economy – Cyprus banking bailout: a lose=lose situation – Long …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 88, No. 41, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Aulbach, Lucas. Former WKU Players Take Part in Pro Day – Football
• Grogg, Mitchell. Gary Ransdell: Budget Challenges Face WU Next Year
• French, Jackson. Newly Proposed South Campus Food Court May Be Student Run – Dining Services
• Koch, Cameron. Theatre & Dance and Sociology Students Work with Juvenile Delinquents
• Burnside, Ella. Students Speak Out Through The Vagina Monologues – Sexual Assault Awareness Month
• Crumbie, Trey. T Is for Tuba – Pep Band, Matt McCay, Music
• Parker, Jacob. Student Creates Peace Mural with 60 Elementary Schoolers – Megan McDonald, Hartstern …

Cal Poly Workshop To Highlight New Methods For Assessing Agricultural Nutrient Levels May 17, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.