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Effects Of Environmental Stimulation On Infant Vocalizations And Orofacial Dynamics At The Onset Of Canonical Babbling, Meredith Poore Harold, Steven M. Barlow

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The vocalizations and jaw kinematics of 30 infants aged 6–8 months were recorded using a Motion Analysis System and audiovisual technologies. This study represents the first attempt to determine the effect of play environment on infants’ rate of vocalization and jaw movement. Four play conditions were compared: watching videos, social contingent reinforcement and vocal modeling with an adult, playing alone with small toys, and playing alone with large toys. The fewest vocalizations and spontaneous movement were observed when infants were watching videos or interacting with an adult. Infants vocalized most when playing with large toys. The small toys, which naturally …

Short-Term Effects Of Pacifier Texture On Nns In Neurotypical Infants, Austin L. Oder, David L. Stalling, Steven M. Barlow

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The dense representation of trigeminal mechanosensitive afferents in the lip vermilion, anterior tongue, intraoral mucosa, and temporomandibular joint allows the infant’s orofacial system to encode a wide range of somatosensory experiences during the critical period associated with feed development. Our understanding of how this complex sensorium processes texture is very limited in adults, and the putative role of texture encoding in the infant is unknown.The purpose of this study was to examine the short-term effects of a novel textured pacifier experience in healthy term infants (𝑁 = 28). Nonnutritive suck (NNS) compression pressure waveforms were digitized in real time using …

Brain Mechanisms Underlying The Impact Of Attachment-Related Stress On Social Cognition, Tobias Nolte, Danielle Z. Bolling, Caitlin M. Hudac, Peter Fonagy, Linda Mayes, Kevin A. Pelphrey

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Mentalizing, in particular the successful attribution of complex mental states to others, is crucial for navigating social interactions. This ability is highly influenced by external factors within one’s daily life, such as stress. We investigated the impact of stress on the brain basis of mentalization in adults. Using a novel modification of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET-R) we compared the differential effects of two personalized stress induction procedures: a general stress induction (GSI) and an attachment-related stress induction (ASI). Participants performed the RMET-R at baseline and after each of the two inductions. Baseline results replicated and …

The Transgenerational Consequences Of Discrimination On African-American Health Outcomes, Bridget J. Goosby, Chelsea Heidbrink

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Disparities in African American health remain pervasive and persist transgenerationally. There is a growing consensus that both structural and interpersonal racial discrimination are key mechanisms affecting African American health. The Biopsychosocial Model of Racism as a Stressor posits that the persistent stress of experiencing discrimination take a physical toll on the health of African Americans and is ultimately manifested in the onset of illness. However, the degree to which the health consequences of racism and discrimination can be passed down from one generation to the next is an important avenue of exploration. In this review, we discuss and link literature …

Engaging Teenagers With Science Through Comics, Amy N. Spiegel, Julia Mcquillan, Peter Halpin, Camillia Matuk, Judy Diamond

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

It is increasingly important for all citizens, and especially youth, to understand how viruses impact our health, communities and environment. Particularly for youth less interested in traditional science learning materials, comics may provide a way to engage teenagers with scientific information about viruses. We compared the impacts of different formats of educational materials on teenagers’ knowledge of, attitudes toward, and engagement with information about viruses. High school students (N = 873) were randomly assigned to read either a high quality comic or essay about viruses. Latent class analysis grouped youth into one of four categories that captured a range from …

Impulsiveness Mediates The Association Between Gabra2 Snps And Lifetime Alcohol Problems, S. Villafuerte, V. Strumba, S. F. Stoltenberg, R. A. Zucker, M. Burmeister

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Genetic variants in GABRA2 have previously been shown to be associated with alcohol measures, electroencephalography (EEG) β waves and impulsiveness-related traits. Impulsiveness is a behavioral risk factor for alcohol and other substance abuse. Here, we tested association between 11 variants in GABRA2 with NEO-impulsiveness and problem drinking. Our sample of 295 unrelated adult subjects was from a community of families with at least one male with DSM-IV alcohol use diagnosis, and from a socioeconomically comparable control group. Ten GABRA2 SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) were associated with the NEO-impulsiveness (P < 0.03). The alleles associated with higher impulsiveness correspond to the minor alleles identified in previous alcohol dependence studies. All ten SNPs are in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with each other and represent one effect on impulsiveness. Four SNPs and the corresponding haplotype from intron 3 to intron 4 were also associated with Lifetime Alcohol Problems Score (LAPS, P < 0.03) (not corrected for multiple testing). Impulsiveness partially mediates (22.6% average) this relation between GABRA2 and LAPS. Our results suggest that GABRA2 variation in …

The Relationship Of Personal, Family, And Abuse-Specific Factors To Children’S Clinical Presentation Following Childhood Sexual Abuse, C. Thresa Yancey, Karen Z. Naufel, David J. Hansen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Past literature has proposed potential variables (e.g., age, gender, attributional style) that may relate to clinical presentation following childhood sexual abuse (CSA). However, few studies have tested these relationships. The current study examined multiple factors related to clinical presentation following CSA in 101 children and adolescents presenting for treatment at Project SAFE, a parallel group treatment for children/teens and their nonoffending parents. Using clusters developed in a previous study, relationships between proposed variables and pretreatment clinical presentation were examined. Results indicated that attributions about the abuse, parental mental health, and severity of abuse related to the differentiated clinical presentation. These …

The Importance Of Social Cues For Discretionary Health Services Utilization: The Case Of Infertility, Arthur L. Greil, Karina M. Shreffler, Katherine M. Johnson, Julia Mcquillan, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Infertility is a discretionary health condition; although it carries with it important life course implications, treatment is rarely necessary for health reasons. Sociological theories of medical help-seeking emphasize demographic factors, perceived need, and enabling conditions in health services utilization, but we find that social cues are also strongly associated with health services utilization for infertility. Adjusted for conventional predictors of medical help-seeking, several social cue indicators have significant associations with utilization, including having friends and family with children, perceiving infertility stigma, and having a partner and/or family member who encourages treatment. Perceived need accounts for the largest portion of the …

Avian Mortality At Communication Towers In The United States And Canada: Which Species, How Many, And Where?, Travis Longcore, Catherine Rich, Pierre Mineau, Beau Macdonald, Daniel G. Bert, Lauren M. Sullivan, Erin Mutrie, Sidney A. Gauthreaux Jr., Michael L. Avery, Robert L. Crawford, Albert M. Manville Ii, Emilie R. Travis, David Drake

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Birds migrating to and from breeding grounds in the United States and Canada are killed by the millions in collisions with lighted towers and their guy wires. Avian mortality at towers is highly variable across species, and the importance to each population depends on its size and trajectory. Building on our previous estimate of avian mortality at communication towers, we calculated mortality by species and by regions. To do this, we constructed a database of mortality by species at towers from available records and calculated the mean proportion of each species killed at towers within aggregated Bird Conservation Regions. These …

An Analytical Framework For Quantifying And Testing Patterns Of Temporal Dynamics In Social Networks, Elizabeth A. Hobson, Michael L. Avery, Timothy F. Wright

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Change is fundamental to all social systems. Temporal dynamics are critical in understanding how relationships form and change over time but rarely are studied explicitly in animal groups. Social network approaches are useful in describing association patterns and provide promising tools for investigating the dynamics of change in social structure but have rarely been used to quantify how animal associations change over time. In this study, we describe and test a framework for temporal analysis of social structure. We propose an analytical framework of methods that integrates across social scales and comparatively analyses change in social structure across multiple types …

Comparison Of Two Models For Estimating Mortality From Baitings With Compound Drc-1339 Concentrate Avicide, Jeffrey H. Homan, Randal S. Stahl, George M. Linz

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In the U.S., DRC-1339 baitings for blackbirds (Icteridae) are generally done under the pesticide label, Compound DRC-1339 Concentrate e Staging Areas. DRC-1339 is a slow-acting avicide and gives the birds enough time to leave the baiting sites. Carcass searches and other forms of onsite counts are ineffective. Instead, linear models (LM) are used. The LM are based on esophageal analyses of several blackbird species collected while feeding at staging area bait sites. Biases and large variances can occur with this type of sampling. As an alternative to the LM, we developed a semi-mechanistic model (SM) that combined mechanistic modeling of …

Experimental Infection Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) With Northern European Bluetongue Virus Serotype 8, Barbara S. Drolet, Lindsey M. Reister, Tara D. Rigg, Pauline Nol, Brendan K. Podell, James O. Mecham, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Piet A. Van Rijn, William C. Wilson, Richard Bowen

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bluetongue (BT) is an insect-transmitted, economically important disease of domestic and wild ruminants. Although only five of the 26 reported bluetongue virus (BTV) serotypes are considered endemic to the USA, 10 exotic serotypes have been isolated primarily in the southeastern region of the country since 1999. For an exotic BTV serotype to become endemic there must be susceptible animal species and competent vectors. In the USA, sheep and white-tailed deer (WTD) are the primary sentinel livestock and wildlife species, respectively. In 2006, BTV-8 was introduced into Northern Europe and subsequently overwintered, causing unprecedented livestock disease and mortality during the 2006– …

The Safety Of Onrab® In Select Non-Target Wildlife, Tricia L. Fry, Kaci K. Vandalen, Colleen Duncan, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

ONRAB^® is a recombinant human adenovirus type 5 (HAd5) with the rabies glycoprotein gene incorporated into its genome. ONRAB® has been used in Canada as an oral rabies vaccine in target wildlife species such as: red fox (Vulpes vulpes), raccoon (Procyon lotor), and striped skunk (Mepthis mephitis). We evaluated the safety of ONRAB^® in non-target wildlife species likely to contact the vaccine baits during oral rabies vaccine campaigns in the United States. We investigated the effects of oral inoculation of hightiter ONRAB^®, approximately ten times the dose given to target …

Use Of Dairies By Postreproductive Flocks Of European Starlings, H. Jeffrey Homan, Jeffrey T. Lejeune, D. L. Pearl, T. W. Seamans, Thomas W. Seamans, A.A. Slowik, Mark R. Morasch, George M. Linz

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Knowledge of the behavior and movement patterns of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris L.) is important to wildlife managers that seek to resolve conflicts at livestock facilities. We captured and radio tagged 10 starlings at each of 5 dairies in northeastern Ohio. From September 19 to October 31, 2007, we obtained sufficient data from 40 birds to study their behavior and movements. The birds visited the dairies where they were initially captured (home sites) on 85% of the days, spending 58% of each day at the dairies. Onsite arrival and departure times were 2.5 h after sunrise and 3.1 h …

Comparisons Between Blackbird Damage To Corn And Sunflower In North Dakota, Megan E. Klosterman, George M. Linz, Anthony Slowik, H. Jeffrey Homan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

For sunflower producers in North Dakota, blackbird (Icterinae) damage is a chronic problem costing millions of dollars annually. Sunflower damage surveys were last completed in the state in 1979-1980. Since the last surveys, corn plantings have increased 6-fold to 1500 X 10³ ha, whereas sunflower hectarage has declined by >75% to 310 × 10³ ha. Blackbirds forage on both crops, and this rapid change in North Dakota’s agricultural landscape was a sound inducement for reassessing crop damage. Field surveys are an important step in damage methods development because they are used for measuring efficacy, as well as assessing …

Stream Hierarchy Defines Riverscape Genetics Of A North American Desert Fish, Matthew W. Hopken, Marlis R. Douglas, Michael E. Douglas

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Global climate change is apparent within the Arctic and the south-western deserts of North America, with record drought in the latter reflected within 640 000 km2 of the Colorado River Basin. To discern the manner by which natural and anthropogenic drivers have compressed Basin-wide fish biodiversity, and to establish a baseline for future climate effects, the Stream Hierarchy Model (SHM) was employed to juxtapose fluvial topography against molecular diversities of 1092 Bluehead Sucker (Catostomus discobolus). MtDNA revealed three geomorphically defined evolutionarily significant units (ESUs): Bonneville Basin, upper Little Colorado River and the remaining Colorado River Basin. Microsatellite analyses …

Detecting An Elusive Invasive Species: A Diagnostic Pcr To Detect Burmese Python In Florida Waters And An Assessment Of Persistence Of Environmental Dna, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Richard M. Engeman, Matthew W. Hopken, John S. Humphrey, Kandy L. Keacher, William E. Bruce, Michael L. Avery

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Recent studies have demonstrated that detection of environmental DNA (eDNA) from aquatic vertebrates in water bodies is possible. The Burmese python, Python bivittatus, is a semi-aquatic, invasive species in Florida where its elusive nature and cryptic coloration make its detection difficult. Our goal was to develop a diagnostic PCR to detect P. bivittatus from water-borne eDNA, which could assist managers in monitoring this invasive species. First, we used captive P. bivittatus to determine whether reptilian DNA could be isolated and amplified from water samples. We also evaluated the efficacy of two DNA isolation methods and two DNA extraction kits …

Changes In Abiotic Influences On Seed Plants And Ferns During 18 Years Of Primary Succession On Puerto Rican Landslides, Lawrence R. Walker, Aaron B. Shiels, Peter J. Bellingham, Ashley D. Sparrow, Ned Fetcher, Fred H. Landau, Deborah J. Lodge

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Abiotic variables are critical drivers of succession in most primary seres, but how their influence on biota changes over time is rarely examined. Landslides provide good model systems for examining abiotic influences because they are spatially and temporally heterogeneous habitats with distinct abiotic and biotic gradients and post-landslide erosion.

2. In an 18-year study on 6 Puerto Rican landslides, we used structural equation models to interpret the changing effects of abiotic influences (landslide dimensions, slope, aspect, elevation, parent material and related soil properties) on seed plants (density and diversity), tree fern density, scrambling fern cover, canopy openness and soil …

Evaluating Habitat Manipulations And Rodenticides To Protect Seedlings From Rodent Damage At Restored Landfills In New York, Gary W. Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Solid waste landfills have become rather commonplace in urbanized and industrialized regions of the world. If designed, managed, and restored properly, they can be converted to useful land uses. However, restoration of woody vegetation can be difficult when animal damage occurs. Numerous species of voles occur throughout the northern hemisphere and several may become serious pests of restoration plantings at high population density, increasing the expense and difficulty of establishing targeted plant communities. We anticipated that meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) were responsible for causing the majority of damage to seedlings planted on restored landfill sites in Brooklyn, New …

Mutation From Arginine To Lysine At The Position 189 Of Hemagglutinin Contributes To The Antigenic Drift In H3n2 Swine Influenza Viruses, Jianqiang Ye, Yifei Xu, Jillian Harris, Hailiang Sun, Andrew S. Bowman, Fred L. Cunningham, Carol Cardona, Kyoungjin J. Yoon, Richard D. Slemons, Xiu-Feng Wan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Two distinct antigenic clusters were previously identified among the H3N2 swine influenza A viruses (IAVs) and were designated H3N2SIV-alpha and H3N2SIV-beta (Feng et al., 2013. Journal of Virology 87(13), 7655–7667). A consistent mutation was observed at the position 189 of hemagglutinin (R189K) between H3N2SIV-alpha and H3N2SIV-beta fair isolates. To evaluate the contribution of R189K mutation to the antigenic drift from H3N2SIV-alpha to H3N2SIV-beta, four reassortant viruses with189R or189K were generated. The antigenic cartography demonstrated that the R189K mutation in the hemagglutinin of H3N2IAV contributed to the antigenicdrift, separating these viruses into H3N2SIV-alpha to H3N2SIV- beta. This R189K mutation was also …

Wildlife Contact Rates At Artificial Feeding Sites In Texas, Tyler A. Campbell, David Long, Susan A. Shriner

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Given the popularity of feeding white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Texas and the increasing amount of corn that is distributed, more information is needed on the impacts of this activity on non-target wildlife. Our objectives were to report visitation, intra- and interspecific contact, and contact rates of wildlife at artificial feeding sites in Texas. Our study was conducted at three sites in Kleberg and Nueces counties, Texas. We trapped animals from February to April and August to September, 2009 and marked animals with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. At each site and season, we placed one feeder system containing a …

Avian Survey Methods For Use At Airports, Bradley F. Blackwell, Paige M. Schmidt, James A. Martin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Adverse effects and damage caused by interactions between humans and wildlife are increasing (DeStephana and DeGraaf 2003). To manage wildlife effectively- whether to mitigate damage. to enhance safety, or to reach conservation goals-wildlife biologists must identify hazards posed by or to members of a particular species (i.e., a population) or guild, and then prioritize management goals and specific actions. We examine the special problem of managing birds to reduce hazards to aviation, particularly those species known to cause structural damage to aircraft when struck and that ·pose problems to airport facilities (Dolbeer et al. 2000, Cleary and Dolbeer 2005, DeVault …

The History Of Wildlife Strikes And Management At Airports, Richard A. Dolbeer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The first human-powered flight took place in December 1903, when Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully flew their experimental aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA. Birds, which had been practicing powered flight for about 150 milli0n-Years, suddenly had a new "competitor" for airspace. and the bird-aircraft collision problem (hereafter referred to as bird strikes) began shortly thereafter (Cleary and Dolbeer 2005). On 7 September 1905, the first reported bird strike, as recorded by Orville Wright in his diary, occurred when his aircraft hit a bird over a cornfield near Dayton, Ohio, USA. Flocks of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) …

Effects Of Local-Scale Removals On Feral Swine Populations In Southern Texas, Johanna Delgado-Acevedo, Randy W. Deyoung, Tyler A. Campbell

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are one of the most threatening mammalian pest species in North America owing to the damage they cause to natural habitats and agroecosystems, and the risk of disease transmission they pose to wildlife, livestock, and humans. The long-term (> 1 year) effects of lethal control efforts on feral swine populations at local scales are largely unknown. Using a panel of molecular markers, we assessed the effects of lethal control efforts on selected populations of feral swine in southern Texas. We collected tissue samples from two sites during removal campaigns, extracted and amplified DNA, and …

Could Avian Scavengers Translocate Infectious Prions To Disease-Free Areas Initiating New Foci Of Chronic Wasting Disease?, Justin W. Fischer, Gregory E. Phillips, Tracy A. Nichols, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Mechanisms for the spread of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases, including chronic wasting disease (CWD) in North American cervids, are incompletely understood, but primary routes include horizontal and environmental transmission. Birds have been identified as potential vectors for a number of diseases, where they ingest or are exposed to infected material and later shed the disease agent in new areas after flying substantial distances. We recently identified American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) as having the potential to translocate infectious prions in their feces. Our results suggest that this common, migratory North American scavenger is capable of translocating infectious prions to …

Monitoring Wild Pig Populations: A Review Of Methods, R. M. Engeman, G. Massei, M. Sage, M. N. Gentle

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are widespread across many landscapes throughout the world and are considered to be an invasive pest to agriculture and the environment, or conversely a native or desired game species and resource for hunting.Wild pig population monitoring is often required for a variety of management or research objectives, and many methods and analyses for monitoring abundance are available. Here, we describe monitoring methods that have proven or potential applications to wild pig management. We describe the advantages and disadvantages of methods so that potential users can efficiently consider and identify the option(s) best suited to …

State-Level Approaches To Managing The Use Of Contraceptives In Wildlife In The United States, John D. Eisemann, Jeanette R. O'Hare, Kathleen A. Fagerstone

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Several fertility control agents have recently been registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency for management of wildlife or other free-ranging animals. The registration of GonaConTM Immunocontraceptive Vaccine for use in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and OvoControl for use in Canada geese (Branta canadensis) and pigeons (Columba livia) has caused state wildlife and land management agencies to review their regulatory authority over the use of contraceptives in wildlife. As a result, many states are taking steps to ensure legislation or policies are current with emerging technologies. This article examines the various approaches states are …

Effects Of Deer Density And Land Use On Mass Of White-Tailed Deer, Trevor J. Hefley, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Jason M. Gilsdorf, Gregory M. Clements, Myndi J. Clements, Andrew J. Tyre, David M. Baasch, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Local and regional land use changes, such as the expansion of cropland for cellulosic biofuels, and the population density of white-tailed deer can affect the health and body mass of white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus. We collected hunterharvest data for 1,731 white-tailed deer from DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa from 2003 to 2010. We used linear mixed-effects models and information theoretic methods to estimate effects of density of white-tailed deer and proportion of total landcover area converted from cropland to cool- or warm-season grassland on body mass of white-tailed deer. Density of white-tailed deer at …

Efficacy Of Electronet Fencing For Excluding Coyotes: A Case Study For Enhancing Production Of Black-Footed Ferrets, Marc R. Matchett, Stewart W. Breck, John Callon

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Reducing coyote (Canis latrans) predation can be an important management objective. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of electronet fencing for excluding coyotes from focal areas on black tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies, measured the effect of fencing on wild-born black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) kit survival, and modeled costs and benefits of fencing. From 27 July to 2 October 2010 in northcentral Montana, USA, we erected and maintained 7.7 km of electronet that enclosed 108 ha on portions of 2 prairie dog colonies. We monitored 2 female ferrets and 6 kits inside exclosures and …

Wildlife Conservation And Alternative Land Uses At Airports, James A. Martin, Tara J. Conkling, Jerrold L. Belant, Kristin M. Biondi, Bradley F. Blackwell, Travis L. Devault, Esteban Fernandez-Juricic, Paige M. Schmidt, Thomas W. Seamans

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Given all the attention paid throughout this book to minimizing the risk of wildlife-aircraft strikes, the title of this chapter may seem like an oxymoron. This book has emphasized management as related to the hazardous (to aircraft) sector of biodiversity. In this chapter we focus on the issue of protection and management of less hazardous taxa, and how altering land use at airports might. in limited circumstances, contribute to this objective.

The term "conservation" often leads to confusion and perceived conflicting goals of management. In fact, many of the direct management techniques used at airports (e.g., deterrents, translocation, etc.) could …