Digital Commons Network^™

Behaviors That Predict Personality Components In Adult Free-Ranging Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana), Alexander J. Pritchard, Lori K. Sheeran, Kara I. Gabriel, Jin-Hua Li, Ronald S. Wagner

Anthropology and Museum Studies Faculty Scholarship

To further the potential for applied personality studies, we present a methodology for assessing personality in nonhuman animals without a priori assumptions, using behavioral measures to discriminate personality survey results. Our study group consisted of 12 free-ranging, provisioned, adult Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys, China. We asked familiar Chinese park guards and scientists to rate each of the 12 macaques using 27-item personality surveys. We also recorded behavioral observations (> 100 hrs) from August–September, 2012. The personality surveys showed reliability in 22 of the items that were then utilized in a principal component analysis …

Benchmarks 2014, June 13, The Rockefeller University

BenchMarks 2014

BenchMarks. Friday, June 13, 2014

The community newsletter of The Rockefeller University

BenchMarks is published monthly and is distributed on the campus of The Rockefeller University. It produced by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs

A Metapopulation Model For Sylvatic T. Cruzi Transmission With Vector Migration, Christopher Kribs, Britnee Crawford

Mathematics Faculty Publications - Archive

This study presents a metapopulation model for the sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas' disease, across multiple geographical regions and multiple overlapping host-vector transmission cycles. Classical qualitative analysis of the model and several submodels focuses on the parasite's basic reproductive number, illustrating how vector migration across patches and multiple transmission routes to hosts (including vertical transmission) determine the infection's persistence in each cycle. Numerical results focus on trends in endemic [equilibrium] persistence levels as functions of vector migration rates, and highlight the significance of the different epidemiological characteristics of transmission in each of the three regions.

Around Campus

DePaul Magazine

Richard H. Driehaus, William Farley Share Wisdom with Students; College of Communication Holds Symposium on Violence, Civil Rights Activist and Educator Bob Moses Recalls Freedom Summer, Filmmakers Timothy and Stephen Quay Receive First Humanities Laureate Award; DePaul Art Museum Exhibit Illuminats Political Protest; School of Music Spring Concert a Russian-Hungarian Rhapsody; Blue Demons Go on Sweet Ride in NCAA Tournament; Women's Basketball Wins Academic National Championship; Women's Tennis Makes Program History, Wins BIG EAST Title; Tennis Phenom Kelsey Lawson Closes Brilliant Career; Track Teams Place High at BIG EAST Championships; Men's Tennis Finishes Second at BIG EAST Championships; Blue Demon …

2013 Annual Report, Various Authors

Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Obligate Male Death And Sexual Cannibalism In Dark Fishing Spiders, Steven Schwartz, William E. Wagner, Eileen A. Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Male dark fishing spiders (Dolomedes tenebrosus Araneae, Pisauridae) always die during their first and only copulation, making all males monogynous. Such obligate male death can be adaptive if it facilitates sexual cannibalism, and if sexual cannibalism results in male reproductive benefits, such as an advantage in sperm competition through reduced female remating. We first conducted an experiment to determine the extent to which D. tenebrosus (1) males are cannibalized by females and (2) females engage in remating, both of which are prerequisites for several adaptive hypotheses of male self-sacrifice. We then conducted an experiment to test the hypothesis that …

Early Song Discrimination By Nestling Sparrows In The Wild, Daizaburo Shizuka

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Songs play an important role in premating isolation in birds. However, when songs are learned, expe- rience with both conspecific and heterospecific songs in early life could lead to the development of both mixed songs and mixed preferences. One way that such learning errors can be prevented is if birds can discriminate between songs of different species prior to learning and preferentially memorize conspe- cific songs. Prior captive studies have shown that white-crowned sparrows, Zonotrichia leucophrys, are able to discriminate songs early in the process of song memorization, after about 10 days since hatching. I studied early song discrimination in …

Regen: Optimizing Genetic Selection Algorithms For Heterogeneous Computing, Scott Kenneth Swinkleb Winkleblack

Master's Theses

GenSel is a genetic selection analysis tool used to determine which genetic markers are informational for a given trait. Performing genetic selection related analyses is a time consuming and computationally expensive task. Due to an expected increase in the number of genotyped individuals, analysis times will increase dramatically. Therefore, optimization efforts must be made to keep analysis times reasonable.

This thesis focuses on optimizing one of GenSel’s underlying algorithms for heterogeneous computing. The resulting algorithm exposes task-level parallelism and data-level parallelism present but inaccessible in the original algorithm. The heterogeneous computing solution, ReGen, outperforms the optimized CPU implementation achieving a …

Assessing Rodent Species Counts And Diversity In The Not-Grazed Montana De Oro State Park And The Rotationally Grazed Pecho Ranch, Nancy Marie Lemos

Master's Theses

The available data examining the influence of rotational grazing on rodent responses are limited. This study investigated how rotational livestock grazing practices influence small mammal rodent abundances and species diversity. We looked for evidence of variation in the occurrence and/or numbers of certain rodent species among three plant community types (grassland, shrubland, grass-shrub mix), managed with or without grazing. We used Sherman live traps over a total of eight trapping sessions. We totaled 486 trapnights for each of the six plant community and grazing management combinations. The three plant community types were identified by visual cover.

Out of the eight …

Merry-Go-Round Human Powered Generator, Sarah Lorraine Ashe, Salvador Navarro

Electrical Engineering

How do you bring electricity to families who have limited resources in a developing country? The DC House project, advised by Dr. Taufik, provides a way for kids to have fun, exercise and generate power for their homes – play-park human powered generators. This project intends to create a more efficient and cost effective way for playground equipment to be implemented for power generation. The redesigned and reconstructed merry-go-round human powered generator converts mechanical energy into electrical energy to power the DC house. This was a fully functioning generator that needed a better voltage gain, as well as, a more …

Early Forest Fire Detection System, Princepal Singh Buttar, Arshdeep Singh Gill

Electrical Engineering

This project aims at building a prototype of a land-based early forest fire detection system using a long-wave infrared camera, powered by a 12 V motorcycle battery. It uses a system engineering approach by putting different software and hardware blocks together to come up with a unique automated system that detects fire in the field of view. The fire can be detected, from a distance of 232 feet if the fire is from a small stove or 64 feet if the fire is from a candle about the size of a quarter, within a second and sends a warning email …

Rapid Battery Exchange (Rbx) Charger Interface, Adam Morris

Electrical Engineering

As fossil fuel prices steadily rise and concerns associated with burning the fuels increase, electric vehicle sales continue to grow. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, EV sales “tripled from about 17,000 in 2011 to about 52,000 in 2012” [1]. In order to meet consumer transportation expectations—molded by fuel-powered vehicles—electric cars must have the ability to “refuel” quickly. Rapidly charging an EV’s traction battery poses one solution but doing so requires large power levels “five times as much as the average office consumes,” [2] making rapid charging less than ideal for the masses. Alternatively, swapping an EV’s depleted battery …

Integration Of Pv & Simulated Dc Sources For The Dc House, Arvind Ramesh, Kevin Gingrich, Scott Chau

Electrical Engineering

The DC House, an ever improving project, uses only pure DC power which most renewable energy sources generate, from solar to wind power. The DC House and this project expect a donation of photovoltaic modules to supply a constant source of DC power. At the moment, the DC House desperately needs power sources because not only does the house have various loads unaccounted for, but the distribution system to determine proper power flow needs a redesign. The project chose to account for these issues by implementing a solar panel onto the DC House and a power distribution module to have …

Robotic Hand Controlled By Myoelectric Signals, Kyle T. Staskus, Daniel A. O'Bryan

Electrical Engineering

In this project we developed a prosthetic hand that is controlled by myoelectric signals from the forearm. The forearm signals were filtered and amplified to be easier read by a microcontroller. The microcontroller then generated signals to control the mechanical hand based on these myoelectric input signals. This is done by the microcontroller increasing the pulse width sent to several servos making up the hand. The larger the pulse width the more flexed the hand becomes until it reaches the maximum programmed into it. In order to open the hand the high input to the microcontroller must be deactivated and …

College Dreams À La Mexicana . . . Agency And Strategy Among American-Mexican Transnational Students, Nolvia A. Cortez Román, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Drawing from in-depth interviews with university-level transnational students in Mexico, we highlight these students’ resistance and agency in the face of US legal and educational policies that have marginalized them and other undocumented students. We also illustrate pitfalls and possibilities that students encounter in a Mexican system that has not anticipated their presence. The interviewed students viewed return migration for higher education in Mexico as a strategy that could allow them to access/develop their imagined identities as college-educated professionals and one day, legalized citizens of the United States. At the time they made their decisions, before Deferred Action for Childhood …

Mir-221/222 Promotes S-Phase Entry And Cellular Migration In Control Of Basal-Like Breast Cancer., Yuan Li, Chunli Liang, Haizhong Ma, Qian Zhao, Ying Lu, Zhendong Xiang, Li Li, Jie Qin, Yihan Chen, William C Cho, Richard G Pestell, Li Liang, Zuoren Yu

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

The miR-221/222 cluster has been demonstrated to function as oncomiR in human cancers. miR-221/222 promotes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and confers tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer. However, the effects and mechanisms by which miR-221/222 regulates breast cancer aggressiveness remain unclear. Here we detected a much higher expression of miR-221/222 in highly invasive basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) cells than that in non-invasive luminal cells. A microRNA dataset from breast cancer patients indicated an elevated expression of miR-221/222 in BLBC subtype. S-phase entry of the cell cycle was associated with the induction of miR-221/222 expression. miRNA inhibitors specially targeting miR-221 or miR-222 both …

Forage News [2014-06], Department Of Plant And Soil Sciences, University Of Kentucky

Forage News

• KFGC Field Day
• KFGC Award Nominations
• Beef Bash - Hold the Date
• U.K. Forage Workers Tour
• Kentucky Grazing School
• Impact of Forage Species (Quality) on Stocker Average Daily Gains
• Southern Forages: An Information Transfer "Success Story"
• Native Grass Perceptions: Producer and Professionals Surveys in Tennessee
• Economics of Native Grass Forage Production: How We Got Lucky and Where to from Here?
• Tolerance of Four Clover Species to Varying Rates of Pre and Post-Emergent Broadleaf Pasture Herbicides

Learn By Traveling Through Aiesec: The Importance Of Studying And Experiencing Intercultural Communication, Haley Gross

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Loose Connections, Strong Networks: Self-Enrollment And The Rhetoric Of 350.Org, Daisy Celine Lucile Brightman

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Poly Royal 2014: Applying Communication Concepts In Order For A Successful Annual Rodeo Event, Shyan Souza

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Georgia Legal Research - Secondary Source Materials, Deborah Schander, Austin Martin Williams, Ronald E. Wheeler, Terrance Manion, Nancy P. Johnson

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

In Memoriam [June 2014]

Nebraska Bird Review

In memoriam: Alice Rushton, Gertrude Wood, and Mitzi Fox

Double-Crested Cormorant And American White Pelican Abundance At Sandhills Lakes During Fall Migration, Lauren R. Dinan, Joel G. Jorgensen

Nebraska Bird Review

Double-crested Cormorants (DCCO, Phalacrocorax auritus) and American White Pelicans (AWPE, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) are migratory piscivorous birds that breed in North America. Both species are abundant spring and fall migrants in Nebraska. DCCOs are also common, albeit local, breeders in northwestern Nebraska (Sharpe et al. 2001 ). DCCO and AWPE numbers have increased throughout their range in recent decades (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS] 2003, Sauer et al. 2013). Both species, but primarily DCCOs, have become increasingly controversial because of increased numbers and also because their principal food source is fish, a resource humans value. Concentrations of DCCOs, and to …

Subscription And Organization Information [June 2014]

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active Household (one or more people) $25; Sustaining …

Nebraska Bird Review (June 2014) 82(2), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Spring Field Report, March–May 2014 ... 46

Double-crested Cormorant and American White Pelican Abundance at Sandhills Lakes during Fall Migration … 73

What Are Blue Ross’s Geese? ... 81

2014 NOU/IOU Joint Meeting in Bellevue ... 86

In Memoriam: Alice Rushton, Gertrude Wood, and Mitzi Fox … 93

Subscription and Organization Information ... 95

Sauger Life History In The Lower Portion Of The Upper Mississippi River, Kasey L. Yallaly, Justin R. Seibert, Sara J. Tripp, David P. Herzog, Quinton E. Phelps

The Prairie Naturalist

Widespread declines have been observed in numerous riverine fish species due to a host of anthropogenic related perturbations such as channelization, dam creation, and exploitation (Graham 1997, Gerken and Paukert 2009). Understanding life history and population demographics of riverine fishes is critical to their conservation. Specific to our study, the Mississippi River has undergone extensive habitat modifications that have changed the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) from a typical lotic large, free flowing river to multiple reservoir-like pools with reduced flow (LePage 1980, Hurley et al. 1987). These habitat transformations may impact sauger (Sander canadensis) populations within the Mississippi River. Several …

Den Characteristics Of Upland And Low- Land Striped Skunks Along The Missouri River Floodplain, Dave Sempek, James A. Wilson

The Prairie Naturalist

Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are opportunistic with respect to habitat use (Bixler and Gittleman 2000), inhabiting an array of landscapes in the proximity of a permanent water supply, such as forest borders, old-fields, fencerows, and open grassy fields broken by wooded ravines (Schwartz and Schwartz 1981, Larivière and Messier 2000). Food quantity and accessibility are major factors determining the quality of striped skunk habitat (Larivière et al. 1999) and are important in the den site selection.

Dens play an important role in skunk survival and reproduction due to the warmth, predator protection, and safe location for parturition they provide (Hwang …

Precipitation And Fire Impacts On Small Mammals In Shortgrass Prairie, Whitney J. Priesmeyer, Raymond S. Matlack, Richard T. Kazmair

The Prairie Naturalist

The southern Great Plains and the northern part of the Texas Panhandle have received less attention from a biological perspective than other parts of the state. Although there is substantial information on the effects of fire on small mammals in the tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies, there is a lack of understanding of fire influences in the shortgrass prairie, specifically on small mammals. We conducted our study on the Cross Bar Cooperative Management Area (CMA), a 4,856 ha shortgrass prairie within the Texas panhandle. Our objective was to determine the effect of three different fire return frequencies and precipitation on diversity …

Bobcat Predation On Bighorn Lamb In The Western Black Hills Of South Dakota, Brynn L. Parr, John Kanta, Joe Sandrini, Daniel J. Thompson, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) are found throughout western North America (Krausman et al. 1993, Goodson 1994, Krausman et al. 1996, Besser et al. 2012). In their current range, commonly documented large predators of bighorn sheep include cougars (Puma concolor), gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), wolves (Canis lupus), and coyotes (C. latrans; Ross et al. 1997, Neale et al. 1998, Corti and Shackleton 2002, Dekker 2009, Karsch et al. 2013). Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) also have been documented as predators to both wild and domestic sheep (Kennedy 1948, Cunningham 1970, Nette et al. 1984, Watte and Phillips …

Sgr: A Package For Simulating Conditional Fake Ordinal Data, Luigi Lombardi, Massimiliano Pastore

The R Journal

Many self-report measures of attitudes, beliefs, personality, and pathology include items that can be easily manipulated by respondents. For example, an individual may deliberately attempt to manipulate or distort responses to simulate grossly exaggerated physical or psychological symptoms in order to reach specific goals such as, for example, obtaining financial compensation, avoiding being charged with a crime, avoiding military duty, or obtaining drugs. This article introduces the package sgr that can be used to perform fake data analysis according to the sample generation by replacement approach. The package includes functions for making simple inferences about discrete/ordinal fake data. The package …