Digital Commons Network^™

University Student Volunteering Alignment With Sustainability Principles, Rowena H. Scott, Eddie J. Van Etten

Research outputs 2013

This research paper reviews the concept and practice of tertiary sciences students doing environmental volunteering, otherwise known as conservation volunteering, as a core part of their course to check its alignment with sustainability principles. First year Natural Sciences students at Edith Cowan University do five days environmental volunteer work with community groups as practicum. Initial research data displays the number of volunteer hours done by students in various types of activities, locations and organisations. Preliminary quantitative evaluations and qualitative comments demonstrate students’ positive attitudes and outcomes from their volunteering experiences. Definitions and classifications of sustainability from current literature are discussed …

Towards A Natural History Of Internet Use? Working To Overcome The Implications For Research Of The Child-Adult Divide, Lelia R. Green, Donell J. Holloway, David Holloway

Research outputs 2013

Using a metaphor borrowed from the biological sciences, this paper discusses a ‘natural history’ of Internet use. As ‘digital natives’ many of today’s teenagers and young people have grown up and matured interacting with the Internet from an early age. Research about young people’s Internet use tends, however, to focus on the protection of minors. Young people, 16 years or older, are often excluded from noncommercial research about how young people grow into more mature patterns of Internet use. This paper highlights how parents with teenagers are building dynamic models of their children’s engagement with the Internet as they mature. …

A Mathematical Model Describing The Dynamics Of Hiv Virions And Cd4+T Cells In The Human Immune System, Matthew Chacko

Honors Theses

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is an intracellular parasite that attacks cells of the immune system called CD4+T cells. In ecology the Lotka-Volterra models, a classical set of differential equations, describe three interactions between species in ecosystems: predator/prey, mutualism, and competition. The human body is also an ecosystem with HIV and T cells exhibiting the three Lotka-Volterra interactions with each other. I pose a mathematical model that predicts T cell/HIV dynamics by incorporating the three Lotka-Volterra interactions and other salient biological phenomena that influence the dynamics, such as T cell senescence and the presence of viral reserviors.

Photocatalysis Using Cdse Quantum Dots, Luis K. Garibay

Honors Theses

In this project, we synthesized water soluble CdSe quantum dots (QDs) that photocatalyzed the reduction of reazurin to resorufin. Absorption spectra of the CdSe QDs in water solution is the same as in the toluene suspended QDs solution. The retention of optoelectric properties implies tht the QDs retain their chemical properties upon water solubilization. Absorption spectra also showed photoreduction of resazurin to resorufin after a period of light exposure only in the presence of quantum dots. These preliminary results suggest that CdSe quantum dots could be viable photocatalyst for productoion of hydrogen gas through the wate splitting reaction.

Hawksbill Turtle Eretmochelys Imbricata Nesting Environment And Population Study In Cuero Y Salado Wildlife Refuge On The Coast Of Northern Honduras, Ariana Emily Cunningham

Honors Theses

This report outlines my contributions to ProTECTOR's Hawksbill turtle conservation project along the beachfront at Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge of Honduras. Observation-focused nightly beach patrols were conducted so as to census numbers of turtles nesting in this location presently and beach characteristic surveys were undertaken to create a map of environmental factors relevant to Hawksbill nesting along this beach. Resulting environmental maps were correlated with known factors contributing to Hawksbill nest site choice in order to assess the suitability of this beach for Hawksbill nesting, and thus determine its value for preservation efforts and ongoing funding. Of the 10 …

Spatial And Seasonal Variation In The Stable Isotopic Composition Of Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel Fecal Pellets As An Estimate Of Variation In Diet, Allie Chacko

Honors Theses

We performed stable isotope analyses of fecal pellets to investigate temporal and spatial patterns in the diet of free-ranging, thirteen-lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus). Samples were collected opportunistically from a population in SW Michigan from May to September 2012. We found a statistically significant increases in d13C values throughout the study period, possibly correlating to a late-season flush of C-4 plants. Also, samples collected within 25 m of a cornfield had a mean d13C value of -20.470%, a value significantly higher than those outside the 25 m border (mean=26.192%). This patternmay be indicative of a C-4 rich diet probably due …

Spatial And Seasonal Signals In Stable Isotopes Of Incisor Enamel From Free-Ranging, Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrels, Jacob Andrew Brassington

Honors Theses

From early May through late September, 2012, we captured, tagged, and collected body masses from multiple, free-ranging thirteen-lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) in southwestern Michigan, with 14 individuals recaptured 1 or more times through the season. Beginning in mid-June, we captured and euthanized 12 or these individuals (on average, about 1 per week) to allow study of their lower incisors. We serially micro-sampled enamel along squirrel incisors using laser ablation and determined stable isotope ratios (d13 and d18 O) with gas chromatography-isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS). The resulting values fell into two spatial groups. Specimens collected within 25 m of a …

Cyanide Production By Pseudomonas Putida Ath2-1ri/9 Under Biofilm Conditions, Ranita Campbell

Honors Theses

The genus Pseudomonas is a group of gram-negative bacteria having great ecological diversity. Some species produce HCN which may harm plants. The purpose of this research is to determine whether a plant-associated strain o Pseudomonas putida has the ability to produce cyanide under biofilm conditions. Bacterial production of HCN could prove useful in weed control strategies. To obtain these results the experiment involved a six-day experimental scheme. My findings indicate that Pseudomonas putida does produce cyanide under biofilm conditions providing valuable information concerning cyanogenic bacteria especially in the Pseudomonas group.

Variation In The Calling Song Of The Cricket Gryllus Pennsylvanicus Across Geographic Longitudinal Change, Ioana Danci

Honors Theses

Variation of cricket calling songs can be attributed to environmental factors, including temperature, humidity, vegetation, season, solar elevation, and geographic location. Recent studies found that latitudinal position affects the calling song of male Gryllus pennsylvanicus. My project evaluates whether longitudinal position influences the calling song of G. pennsylvanicus. Using the predicted values of 4 song features based on a mathematical model (Burden 2009), I evaluated data from 6 locatons along a longitudinal axis. I calculated R2 values to determine how well the model predicted the values in my sample populations. The model was found to be a poor predictor.

Light Intensity And Time Of Day Influence Female Acheta Domesticus Phonotaxis, John Hyun-Sik Ahn

Honors Theses

Positive phonotaxis occurs when a female cricket walks toward the source of an auditory stimulus. This study tested the effects of light intensity and time of day on phonotaxis of female Acheta domesticus. First, females were tested at four times of day; second, under three light intensities; and third, under four combinations of light intensity and time of day. Our results show that these two factors combined exert a more pronounced effect on female A. domesticus selectivity than either factor individually, and subsequent research will test these factors against the current neuronal model for SP-selective phonotaxis.

Localization Of Carboxypeptidase O In Madin-Darby Canine Kidney Cells, Donnel Dockery

Honors Theses

Carboxypeptidases are enzymes that trim the carboxy-terminal ends of proteins. Carboxypeptidase O (CPO) is a recently discovered enzyme that was proposed to be associated with lipid droplets. Lipid droplets are organelles found in the cytosol of the cell that carry out different roles like storing metabolic energy and protein degradation. To test if CPO and lipid droplets were associated, we used immunocytochemistry and lipid droplet staining of Madin-Darby canince kidney (MDCK) cells. Our data shows that lipid droplets can be detected with both BODIPY 493/503 and Nile Blue dye. CPO is associated with lipid droplets, but CPO does not affect …

Effect Of Latrunculin B On Phonotaxis In Induced Selective Crickets Treated With Jhiii (Acheta Domesticus), Jerome Martin

Honors Theses

The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect of the actin kinase inhibitor, latrunculin B, on previously unselective crickets. We expected the injecion of a mixture of latrunculin B and juvenile hormones (JHIII) into the prothoracic ganglion would cause a reduction in the affect of JHIII in older crickets, causing them to remain unselective. Based on the results we can conclude that latrunculin B reduces the effect of JHIII, which indicates that creating new synapses is at least a partial effect of JHIII.

Comparisons Of Cultural Identities In Relation To Poverty, Amanda A. Corea

Honors Theses

This research focuses on how one's cultural identity relates to their attitudes towards those in poverty and what they attribute to be the causes of poverty. Correlation and difference tests were run on data collected from questionnaires completed by a convenient sample. Beliefs about poverty and patterns of attitudes demonstrated in various culture groups were analyzed. The hypothesis that cultural identity relates to attributions and attitudes toward poverty based on learned cultural attitudes was partially supported. Significant differences were found between different cultural identity groups for both attributions and attitudes.

Taphonomic Effects Of Fire On Ostrich And Emu Eggshell, Shelley J. Mclarty

Honors Theses

Dinosaur eggshell and evidence for wildfires are common in the fossil record. The effects of fire on ostrich and emu eggshell, modern analogs for dinosaur eggshell, were examined by burning fragments in flames of two different temperature ranges for a series of time intervals. Percent mass loss increased directly with both time and temperature. Different treatment conditions also displayed regular patterns of change in color and curvature. Exposure of eggshell to flame results in dramatic physical changes, knowlegde of which could be useful to paleontologists studying dinosaur nesting ecology.

What Women Want: Masculine Images And Gender Construction In The Old Spice And Dos Equis Ad Campaigns, Ashley Meyer

Honors Theses

The award-winning Dos Equis "The most interesting man in the world" and Old Spice "the man your man could smell like" campaigns are unique not only for their creativity and humor, but also for their portrait of ideal men. These campaigns propose idealized images of masculinity which engage societal conceptions of manhood in the 21st century. Using rhetorical criticism, we can identify underlying ideologies in these campaigns, which combine the traditional and modern masculine constructs to present a new identity that aims but ultimately fails to be universally pleasing. The campaigns also reinforce sexist views of women as childlike and …

The Prevalence Of Encysted Toxoplasma & Sarcocystis In Consumer-Grade Pork, Beef, And Lamb In Michiana, Ross Trecartin

Honors Theses

Commonly present in the muscle of animals are the tissue cysts of Toxoplasma and Sarcocystis. The aim of this study was to determine the presence and levels of Toxoplasma/Sarcocystis tissue cysts in retail pork, beef, and mutton throughout the Michiana area. A total of 36 samples from the three species of interest were exposed to a digestive solution mimicking stomach conditions. The solution consisted of 0.75% pepsin, 0.86% NaCl, and HCl adjusted to a pH of 1-2. The digested samples were then strained through several layers of cheesecloth, centrifuged, and examined for the presence of parasites. Toxoplasma/Sarcocystis were detected in …

Structure And Mission Effectiveness: A Study Focused On Seventh-Day Adventist Mission To Unreached People Groups Between 1980 And 2010, Abraham Guerrero

Dissertations

The present study examines the impact of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's structure on mission effectiveness in taking the gospel to unreached people groups between 1980 and 2010. A historical descriptive study, this dissertation's theory base includes structure from an anthropological perspective; structure, mission, and effectiveness from an organizational perspective; and church structure and mission effectiveness in Christian history.

The impact of structure on mission effectivenessis evaluated in the present work by looking for patterns in history in which the structure has been either a facilitator or a hindrance for establishing churches among those who have not been reached with the …

Book Review Of The Integrated Church: Authentic Multicultural Ministry, By Tracy M. Lewis Giggetts (2011), David Penno

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of Finding Faithful Elders And Deacons, By Thabiti M. Anyabwile (2012), David Penno

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Features Of Copulation And The Copulation Call In Glaucous-Winged Gulls (Larus Glaucescens), Amanda Sandler

Master's Theses

Glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens) breed along the Pacific Northwest coast where they perform highly stereotypical behavior patterns, including associated vocalizations. Early studies suggested the copulation call functions in maintaining pair bonds. Recent studies, however, challenge the idea that strengthening pair bonds is the only function of this call. I described the spectral and temporal features of the copulation call and investigated whether copulation behaviors varied over the course of the 2012 nesting season. During continuous observations from a blind in daylight hours, I documented the start and stop time for every copulation in a sample area of a nesting colony …

Polymer Micro-Grippers With An Integrated Force Sensor For Biological Manipulation, Re Mackay, Hr Le, S Clark, Ja Williams

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The development of a novel micro-system integrating SU-8 polymer micro-grippers with a tensile force sensor for handling and characterizing the mechanical properties of delicate biological materials, such as fibrils, is presented. The micro-grippers are actuated by the electro-thermal effect and have gripping forces comparable to the common 'hot-and-cold-arm' grippers. A robust finite element model was developed to investigate system performance and validated experimentally. A new micro-mechanical calibration method using a piezoelectric manipulator with a micro-force measurement system was successfully applied to test the structure. Both FEA simulation and micro-mechanical testing results indicated that the system could fulfil the requirements for …

Modeling Speech Imitation And Ecological Learning Of Auditory-Motor Maps, C Canevari, L Badino, A D'Ausilio, L Fadiga, G Metta

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Classical models of speech consider an antero-posterior distinction between perceptive and productive functions. However, the selective alteration of neural activity in speech motor centers, via transcranial magnetic stimulation, was shown to affect speech discrimination. On the automatic speech recognition (ASR) side, the recognition systems have classically relied solely on acoustic data, achieving rather good performance in optimal listening conditions. The main limitations of current ASR are mainly evident in the realistic use of such systems. These limitations can be partly reduced by using normalization strategies that minimize inter-speaker variability by either explicitly removing speakers' peculiarities or adapting different speakers to …

The Emergence Of Two Anti-Phase Oscillatory Neural Populations In A Computational Model Of The Parkinsonian Globus Pallidus, R Merrison-Hort, R Borisyuk

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Experiments in rodent models of Parkinson's disease have demonstrated a prominent increase of oscillatory firing patterns in neurons within the Parkinsonian globus pallidus (GP) which may underlie some of the motor symptoms of the disease. There are two main pathways from the cortex to GP: via the striatum and via the subthalamic nucleus (STN), but it is not known how these inputs sculpt the pathological pallidal firing patterns. To study this we developed a novel neural network model of conductance-based spiking pallidal neurons with cortex-modulated input from STN neurons. Our results support the hypothesis that entrainment occurs primarily via the …

Event-Driven Visual Attention For The Humanoid Robot Icub, F Rea, G Metta, C Bartolozzi

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Fast reaction to sudden and potentially interesting stimuli is a crucial feature for safe and reliable interaction with the environment. Here we present a biologically inspired attention system developed for the humanoid robot iCub. It is based on input from unconventional event-driven vision sensors and an efficient computational method. The resulting system shows low-latency and fast determination of the location of the focus of attention. The performance is benchmarked against an instance of the state of the art in robotics artificial attention system used in robotics. Results show that the proposed system is two orders of magnitude faster that the …

An Interactive Channel Model Of The Basal Ganglia: Bifurcation Analysis Under Healthy And Parkinsonian Conditions, R Merrison-Hort, N Yousif, F Njap, Et Al

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Oscillations in the basal ganglia are an active area of research and have been shown to relate to the hypokinetic motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. We study oscillations in a multi-channel mean field model, where each channel consists of an interconnected pair of subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus sub-populations.To study how the channels interact, we perform two-dimensional bifurcation analysis of a model of an individual channel, which reveals the critical boundaries in parameter space that separate different dynamical modes; these modes include steady-state, oscillatory, and bi-stable behaviour. Without self-excitation in the subthalamic nucleus a single channel cannot generate oscillations, yet …

A Robust Sound Perception Model Suitable For Neuromorphic Implementation., Martin Coath, Sadique Sheik, Elisabetta Chicca, Giacomo Indiveri, Susan L. Denham, Thomas Wennekers

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

We have recently demonstrated the emergence of dynamic feature sensitivity through exposure to formative stimuli in a real-time neuromorphic system implementing a hybrid analog/digital network of spiking neurons. This network, inspired by models of auditory processing in mammals, includes several mutually connected layers with distance-dependent transmission delays and learning in the form of spike timing dependent plasticity, which effects stimulus-driven changes in the network connectivity. Here we present results that demonstrate that the network is robust to a range of variations in the stimulus pattern, such as are found in naturalistic stimuli and neural responses. This robustness is a property …

Towards A Consensus View On Understanding Nanomaterials Hazards And Managing Exposure: Knowledge Gaps And Recommendations, G Hunt, I Lynch, F Cassee, Rd Handy, Tf Fernandes, M Berges, Taj Kuhlbusch, M Dusinska, M Riediker

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Critical Comparison Of Intravenous Injection Of Tio2 Nanoparticles With Waterborne And Dietary Exposures Concludes Minimal Environmentally-Relevant Toxicity In Juvenile Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus Mykiss., D Boyle, Ga Al-Bairuty, Tb Henry, Rd Handy

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

A critical comparison of studies that have investigated tissue accumulation and toxicity of TiO2-NPs in fish is necessary to resolve inconsistencies. The present study used identical TiO2-NPs, toxicological endpoints, and fish (juvenile rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss) as previous studies that investigated waterborne and dietary toxicity of TiO2-NPs, and conducted a critical comparison of results after intravenous caudal-vein injection of 50 μg of TiO2-NPs and bulk TiO2. Injected TiO2-NPs accumulated only in kidney (94% of measured Ti) and to a lesser extent in spleen; and injected bulk TiO2 was found only in kidney. No toxicity of TiO2 was observed in kidney, …

Molecular Approaches For Studying Root Herbivores, Cm Benefer, Rp Blackshaw

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The use of molecular techniques in insect ecology has expanded rapidly, allowing ever more challenging questions to be addressed. Compared to their aboveground equivalents, root herbivore molecular ecology has received less attention, despite essentially the same ecological questions being of importance in both the above- and belowground ecosystems. Studies so far have concentrated on economically important taxa, using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequencing and a variety of markers to investigate the species identity and relationships, population dynamics and dispersal, distribution, feeding behaviour and interactions with other organisms. Although this has proved useful for elucidating these aspects of their ecology, there …

Signature Verification Based On Moments Technique, Shaymaa Al-Juboori

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

In this research we will present the signature as a key to the biometric authentication technique. I shall use moment invariants as a tool to make a decision about any signature which is belonging to the certain person or not. Eighteen voluntaries give 108 signatures as a sample to test the proposed system, six samples belong to each person were taken. Moment invariants are used to build a feature vector stored in this system. Euclidean distance measure used to compute the distance between the specific signatures of persons saved in this system and with new sample acquired to same persons …