Digital Commons Network^™

Hard Luck Baby, Tanya Lipscomb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hard Luck Baby is a collection that elucidates the life of a southern, black mother as she grapples with her culture, family, love and the complex reality of black life in America. Hannah, is a woman who was born in the bubbling 40s, raised in the racial 60s and raptured in the drug-infested 80s. It is through these decades that the rough edges of America are exposed. She discusses her life experiences in a manner that allows readers to touch, as much as empathy will allow, the feelings that contour the deepest areas of her barrel. She shares her first …

Bridging Discourse: Connections Between Institutional And Lay Natural Philosophical Texts In Medieval England, Alayne Lorden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Translations of works containing Arabic and ancient Greek knowledge of the philosophical and mechanical underpinnings of the natural world—a field of study called natural philosophy—were disseminated throughout twelfth-century England. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, institutional (ecclesiastical/university) scholars received and further developed this natural philosophical knowledge by reconciling it with Christian authoritative sources (the Bible and works by the Church Fathers). The subsequent discourse that developed demonstrated ambivalence towards natural philosophical knowledge; institutional scholars expressed both acceptance and anxiety regarding the theory and practice of alchemy, astrology/astronomy, and humoral/astrological medicine. While the institutional development and discourse surrounding natural philosophical thought …

Farm To Fork: A Culinary- And Farm-Enhanced Nutrition Education Program, Vivian Ray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With obesity in adolescents becoming a major health problem in the United States, there has been an expansion in the use of nutritional education programs as intervention. Effective nutrition education can decrease the incidence of obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. This dissertation in practice proposes to design a nutrition education program, integrating farm and culinary activities into a nutrition education curriculum. The program is designed as a stand-alone program, but for this practice, implementation integrates the nutrition education program into the Film @ 6 after-school program – a STEM-focused program designed to assist …

A Quasi-Experiment Examining Expressive And Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge Of Preschool Head Start Children Using Mobile Media Apps, Angela Vatalaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American Academy of Pediatrics (1999, 2011) recommends no screen time for children under two years and limited screen time for three- and four-year-olds. Despite these recommendations, most young children have easy access to various types of screens. In particular, children*s use of mobile media, including tablets and other touch screen devices, is increasing (Common Sense Media, 2013). Even though scholars have highlighted positive uses for mobile media (Christakis, 2014; Radesky, Schumacher, & Zuckerman, 2015) and there are recommendations in place for using mobile media with young children in active, open-ended ways (NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center, 2012), there has …

Developing An Architectural Sequence For A Portion Of The Mound A Enclosure At The Carson Mound Group, Coahoma County, Mississippi, Todd Bryan Mcleod

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Spatial Distribution Of Debitage At A Chert Procurement Site And A Cultural History Assessment On Orange Lake In North Central Florida, Joseph Petererson Culen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project evaluated a 90 acre parcel of property located on the southern shore of Orange Lake in NCFL (North Central Florida). A cultural resource management style survey was conducted to determine what archeological evidence for prehistoric activity was present. In addition to this general assessment, this research was conducted in order to identify specific settlement patterns in the area and determine if they corresponded with the settlement strategies already identified for wetland environments within the area of north central Florida. Further, after a tool stone procurement zone was identified a study examining debitage size grade drop-off trends was conducted …

Seed To Sale: Boundary Work In Mississippi Agriculture, Caroline Canarios

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From production to sale, farm operations thrive on the demanding work of farm labor. However, social research on agriculture does not give adequate attention to issues of labor and work. Through participant observation, interviews, and content analysis, I analyze work from multiple perspectives within Mississippi agriculture. I focus on individuals involved in produce farming in two communities located in Northwest and Southeast Mississippi. I apply the boundary work theoretical framework to my findings, which reveals the complexities of the agriculture sector in Mississippi and illuminates the ways in which individuals not only define themselves but the work they do and …

Detection Of Traumatic Brain Injury With The Picture Memory Interference Test In College Students, Bryce Erich

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine potential effects of head-injury on individuals’ performance on the Picture Memory Interference Test (PMIT). This study examined differences in the performance of college-aged students with and without a history of head-injury on the PMIT. Data was drawn from an archival dataset of PMIT completions held at UCLA and analyzed with permission. From the total dataset of 12,227 completions, experimental groups were derived and separated based upon assumed severity of head-injury, based upon self-report data. Following exclusions, the final data sub-set for analysis consisted of 6,897 unique completions of the PMIT. Of these, …

Produce & Achieve: A Case Study Of Inner-City Education, Daryl A. Tate

Theses and Dissertations

Despite efforts at narrowing the achievement gap, ethnicity-based disparities in achievement are an enduring and pervasive issue in American education. Holy Angels, a high achieving, African American, urban, elementary school in Chicago, Illinois offers a model for successful education of ethnic minority children. Despite coming from predominantly welfare supported, single-mother homes, located in crime ridden inner-city Chicago, during the period bounded by this study, Holy Angels’ students produced test scores among the highest in the nation. Previous research indicates that characteristics of schools that support academic achievement particularly among ethnic minority students are high teacher expectations, academic emphasis, and culturally …

Evaluating Landowner-Based Beaver Relocation As A Tool To Restore Salmon Habitat, V. M. Petro, J. D. Taylor Ii, D. M. Sanchez

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Relocating American beavers (Castor canadensis) from unwanted sites to desirable sites (i.e., where damage exceeds stakeholder capacity) has been posited as a method to enhance in-stream habitat for salmonids in the Pacific Northwest region of the US; however, no studies have evaluated this method. From September–December 2011, we trapped and relocated 38 nuisance beavers using guidelines available to Oregon landowners. Release sites were selected from models that identified high values of beaverdamhabitat suitability and where dams would increase intrinsic potential of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Mean distance moved from release sites within 16 weeks post-release was 3.3 …

Assessment Of Population Structure Of Coyotes In East-Central Alabama Using Microsatellite Dna, Dalinda L. Damm, James B. Armstrong, Wendy M. Arjo, Antoinette J. Piaggio

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Canis latrans (Coyotes) are a management concern in the southeastern US because of their potential impacts on agriculture, other wildlife species, and human health and safety. This region is part of a recent range expansion by Coyotes, and information about their population structure in the southeastern US is lacking. In this study, we used microsatellite DNA to assess genetic diversity and population structure among Coyotes in east-central Alabama. We detected high genetic diversity (H_E = 0.78) and no population structure across the total sampling area. Additionally, we investigated population structure between urban and rural groups. We detected low but …

Assessing Chemical Control Of Earthworms At Airports, Thomas W. Seamans, Bradley F. Blackwell, Glen E. Bernhardt, Daniel A. Potter

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Earthworms originating from Europe (e.g., Lumbricus spp., Aporrectodea spp.), which are common in the United States and southern Canada can create hazardous conditions at airports by attracting birds that pose a threat to aircraft. These nonnative earthworms are also considered pests on golf courses and sports fields, as well as having detrimental effects on temperate boreal forests. No toxicants or repellents are currently registered for earthworm control in the United States. Our purpose was to identify products that could be used to repel or suppress nonnative earthworms on airports or other managed sites where they pose a hazard or nuisance. …

Assessment Of Variation Of Nest Survival For Grassland Birds Due To Method Of Nest Discovery, Tara J. Conkling, Jerrold L. Belant, Travis L. Devault, Guiming Wang, James A. Martin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Capsule Interpretation of nest survival estimates may be improved by incorporating the search method used to locate nests as a covariate.

Aims To compare annual survival estimates for Dickcissel Spiza americana nests and determine if incorporating search method (structured, opportunistic, or behavioural searches) improved model fit.

Methods Dickcissel nests were located using structured, opportunistic, or behavioural searches over three years (2011–2013) in Mississippi, USA. Models were used to estimate daily survival rates (DSRs) and to analyse factors influencing nest survival.

Results DSRs for Dickcissels were best explained by quadratic date, nest age, age found, and year, but incorporating search method …

Modeling The Cost Of Bird Strikes To Us Civil Aircraft, Aaron M. Anderson, David S. Carpenter, Michael J. Begier, Bradley F. Blackwell, Travis L. Devault, Stephanie A. Shwiff

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The objective of our analysis is to develop a model of damage costs that arise from collisions between aircraft and birds, based on data drawn from the Federal Aviation Administration National Wildlife Strike Database (NWSD). We develop a two-part model, composed of two separate statistical models, that accounts for the effects of aircraft mass category, engine type, component of the aircraft struck, and the size and number of birds struck. Our results indicate the size of bird, number of birds, and engine ingestions are the largest determinants of strike-related costs. More generally, our result is a model that provides a …

Serological Investigation Of Heartland Virus (Bunyaviridae: Phlebovirus) Exposure In Wild And Domestic Animals Adjacent To Human Case Sites In Missouri 2012–2013, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Nicholas A. Panella, J. Jeffrey Root, Tom Gidlewski, R. Ryan Lash, Jessica R. Harmon, Kristen L. Burkhalter, Marvin S. Godsey, Harry M. Savage, William L. Nicholson, Nicholas Komar, Aaron C. Brault

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Heartland virus (HRTV; Bunyaviridae: Phlebovirus) has recently emerged as a causative agent of human disease characterized by thrombocytopenia and leukopenia in the United States. The lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum L.) has been implicated as a vector. To identify candidate vertebrate amplification hosts associated with enzootic maintenance of the virus, sera and ticks were sampled from 160 mammals (8 species) and 139 birds (26 species) captured near 2 human case residences in Andrew and Nodaway Counties in northwest Missouri. HRTV-specific neutralizing antibodies were identified in northern raccoons (42.6%), horses (17.4%), white-tailed deer (14.3%), dogs (7.7%), and Virginia opossums …

Shared Genetic Diversity Across The Global Invasive Range Of The Monk Parakeet Suggests A Common Restricted Geographic Origin And The Possibility Of Convergent Selection, Pim Edelaar, Severine Roques, Elizabeth A. Hobson, Anders Gonçalves Da Silva, Michael L. Avery, Michael A. Russello, Juan C. Senar, Timothy F. Wright, Martina Carrete, José L. Tella

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

While genetic diversity is hypothesized to be an important factor explaining invasion success, there is no consensus yet on how variation in source populations or demographic processes affects invasiveness. We used mitochondrial DNA haplotypic and microsatellite genotypic data to investigate levels of genetic variation and reconstruct the history of replicate invasions on three continents in a globally invasive bird, the monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus). We evaluated whether genetic diversity at invasive sites could be explained by (i) the native source populations from which they were derived and (ii) demographic bottlenecks during introduction. Genetic data indicated a localized source …

Best Practice Guidelines For Rat Eradication On Tropical Islands, B. B. Keitt, R. Griffiths, S. Boudjelas, K. Broome, S. Cranwell, J. Millett, W. Pitt, A. Samaniego-Herrera

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive vertebrates are a leading cause of extinction on islands and rats (Rattus spp.) are one of the most damaging to island ecosystems. Methods to eradicate rats from islands are well established and there have been over 580 successful eradications to date. Increasingly, rat eradications are being implemented on tropical islands, a reflection of the need to protect the threatened biodiversity in the tropics. Yet rat eradications on tropical islands fail more frequently than those in temperate climates. In an effort to identify the main reasons for the lower success rate on tropical islands and possible solutions, a workshop …

Thermal Fumigation Provides A Simple And Effective Solution For Sanitizing Cargo From Invasive Snakes, Fred Kraus, Randal S. Stahl, William Pitt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis) is invasive in Guam and threatens to be dispersed by military and civilian transportation activities to other islands in the Pacific, where it could be expected to inflict similar damages. Prevention of inadvertent export of snakes in cargo and vehicles currently relies on trained canine detection teams, which are expensive to use and unable to detect all snakes. Hence, there has long been interest in developing effective and cheaper means of fumigating cargo to remove snakes. A companion study has shown that chemical fumigation is unlikely to be readily developed into a practical …

Effects Of Barred Owl (Strix Varia) Range Expansion On Haemoproteus Parasite Assemblage Dynamics And Transmission In Barred And Northern Spotted Owls (Strix Occidentalis Caurina), Krista E. Lewicki, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Lowell V. Diller, Alan B. Franklin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The range of the barred owl (Strix varia) has expanded westward over the past century and now entirely overlaps the range of the federally threatened northern spotted owl (S. occidentalis caurina) in the Pacific Northwest. We compared Haemoproteus blood parasite assemblages among northern spotted owls in their native range and barred owls in both their native and invasive ranges to evaluate predictions of five hypotheses about parasites and biological invasions: (1) Enemy Release, where hosts benefit from a loss of parasites in their invasive range, (2) Enemy of My Enemy, where invasive hosts introduce parasites to …

Establishing A Definition Of Polar Bear (Ursus Maritimus) Health: A Guide To Research And Management Activities, Kelly A. Park, Colleen Duncan, Pauline Noi, Christian Sonne, Kristin Laidre, Martyn Obbard, Oystein Wiig, Jon Aars, Eric Regehr, Lori L. Gustafson, Todd Atwood

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The meaning of health for wildlife and perspectives on how to assess and measure health, are not well characterized. For wildlife at risk, such as some polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulations, establishing comprehensive monitoring programs that include health status is an emerging need. Environmental changes, especially loss of sea ice habitat, have raised concern about polar bear health. Effective and consistent monitoring of polar bear health requires an unambiguous definition of health. We used the Delphi method of soliciting and interpreting expert knowledge to propose a working definition of polar bear health and to identify current concerns regarding …

Is Anthropogenic Cougar Mortality Compensated By Changes In Natural Mortality In Utah? Insight From Long-Term Studies, Michael L. Wolfe, David N. Koons, David C. Stoner, Patricia Terletzky, Eric M. Gese, David M. Choate, Lise M. Aubry

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Understanding the interplay between exploitation and natural mortality is essential to guiding sustainable conservation of wildlife. Exploitation of carnivores by humans has long been thought to result in compensatory reductions of natural mortality among survivors. If rates of human exploitation exceed natural mortality, however, such actions will ‘add’ to overall mortality and could imperil the sustainability of such actions. We applied competing risk analyses to >16 years of data for heavily harvested and semi-protected cougar populations in Utah to test the additive and compensatory mortality hypotheses, while accounting for parameter uncertainty. We additionally tested for presence of the two primary …

Prion Amplification And Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling Refine Detection Of Prion Infection, A. Christy Wyckoff, Nathan Galloway, Crystal Meyerett-Reid, Jenny Powers, Terry Spraker, Ryan J. Monello, Bruce Pulford, Margaret Wild, Michael F. Antolin, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Mark Zabel

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Prions are unique infectious agents that replicate without a genome and cause neurodegenerative diseases that include chronic wasting disease (CWD) of cervids. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is currently considered the gold standard for diagnosis of a prion infection but may be insensitive to early or sub-clinical CWD that are important to understanding CWD transmission and ecology. We assessed the potential of serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA) to improve detection of CWD prior to the onset of clinical signs. We analyzed tissue samples from free-ranging Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) and used hierarchical Bayesian analysis to estimate the specificity …

Subtype-Specific Influenza A Virus Antibodies In Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis), Whitney M. Kistler, David E. Stallknecht, Thomas J. Deliberto, Kyle Van Why, Michael J. Yabsley

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Historically, surveillance for influenza A viruses (IAVs) in wild birds has relied on viral detection assays. This was largely due to poor performance of serological assays in wild birds; however, recently developed commercial serological assays have improved the ability to detect IAV antibodies in wild birds. Serological surveillance for IAV antibodies in Canada geese (Branta canadensis) has shown that, despite a low prevalence of virus isolations, Canada geese are frequently exposed to IAVs and that exposure increases with latitude, which follows virus isolation prevalence patterns observed in dabbling ducks. The objectives of this study were to further evaluate IAV antibodies …

The Effects Of Radar On Avian Behavior: Implications For Wildlife Management At Airports, Eleanor Sheridan, Jacquelyn Randolet, Travis Lee Devault, Thomas Walter Seamans, Bradley Fields Blackwell, Esteban Fernández-Juricic

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Airports often contain foraging, breeding, and roosting resources for wildlife. Airports also have different types of radars to assist with air traffic control, monitoring weather, and tracking wildlife that could become a risk for collision with aircraft. The effect of radar electromagnetic radiation on wildlife behavior is not well understood. The goal of this study was to determine whether bird behavior is affected by radar in two contexts: stationary radar (e.g., surveillance radar) and approaching radar (e.g., aircraft weather radar). We used brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) as a model species as they are common at airports. We hypothesized that radar …

Demographic And Spatiotemporal Patterns Of Avian Influenza Infection At The Continental Scale, And In Relation To Annual Life Cycle Of A Migratory Host, Rodolfo Nallar, Zsuzsanna Papp, Tasha Epp, Frederick A. Leighton, Seth R. Swafford, Thomas J. Deliberto, Robert J. Dusek, Hon S. Ip, Jeffrey Hall, Yohannes Berhane, Samantha E.J. Gibbs, Catherine Soos

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Since the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in the eastern hemisphere, numerous surveillance programs and studies have been undertaken to detect the occurrence, distribution, or spread of avian influenza viruses (AIV) in wild bird populations worldwide. To identify demographic determinants and spatiotemporal patterns of AIV infection in long distance migratory waterfowl in North America, we fitted generalized linear models with binominal distribution to analyze results from 13,574 blue-winged teal (Anas discors, BWTE) sampled in 2007 to 2010 year round during AIV surveillance programs in Canada and the United States. Our analyses revealed that during late summer staging …

Impact Of Capture And Transportation Methods On Survival Of Small Rodents During Relocation Events, Roger A. Baldwin, Ryan Meinerz, Holly E. Jantz, Gary W. Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Capture and transportation of wild rodents is needed to supply study animals for laboratory or enclosure studies and for translocation of threatened and endangered species. Stress of captured rodents must be minimized to maximize survival. Methods to limit stress include minimizing capture and transportation durations, providing sufficiently sized housing with adequate nesting materials and foods, and ensuring that animals are maintained in comfortable environmental conditions. We utilized these techniques to capture and transport California voles (Microtus californicus) and pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) from California to Colorado to determine their rate of survival during this process. We …

Evaluating The Reliability Of Field Identification And Morphometric Classifications For Carnivore Scats Confirmed With Genetic Analysis, Robert C. Lonsinger, Eric M. Gese, Lisette P. Waits

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Scat surveys are commonly used to monitor carnivore populations. Scats of sympatric carnivores can be difficult to differentiate and field-based identification can be misleading. We evaluated the success of field-based species identification for scats of 2 sympatric carnivores—coyotes (Canis latrans) and kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis). We conducted scat surveys in the Great Basin desert of Utah, USA, during the winter and summer of 2013, and we detected 1,680 carnivore scats. We classified scats based on field identification, recorded morphometricmeasurements, and collected fecalDNA samples for molecular species identification. We subsequently evaluated the classification success of field identification …

Contact Heterogeneities In Feral Swine: Implications For Disease Management And Future Research, Kim M. Pepin, Amy J. Davis, James C. Beasley, Raoul Boughton, Tyler A. Campbell, Susan M. Cooper, Wesson D. Gaston, Steve Hartley, John C. Kilgo, Samantha M. Wisely, A. Christy Wyckoff, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Contact rates vary widely among individuals in socially structured wildlife populations. Understanding the interplay of factors responsible for this variation is essential for planning effective disease management. Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are a socially structured species which pose an increasing threat to livestock and human health, and little is known about contact structure. We analyzed 11 GPS data sets from across the United States to understand the interplay of ecological and demographic factors on variation in co-location rates, a proxy for contact rates. Between-sounder contact rates strongly depended on the distance among home ranges (less contact among sounders …

Evaluating Fladry Designs To Improve Utility As A Nonlethal Management Tool To Reduce Livestock Depredation, Julie K. Young, Elizabeth Miller, Anna Essex

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Nonlethal deterrents against carnivores are important components to protecting livestock and conserving carnivore populations. However, the performance of the visual deterrent called fladry, a historical tool used to defend livestock from carnivores, is often hindered by design flaws that eventually reduce its effectiveness. Our purpose was to identify a fladry design that reduces coiling (i.e., wrapping of individual flags tight to the rope from which they hang) and maintains free movement of the deterrent in the wind. We created 6 new designs, replicated designs using 2 materials (nylon and marine vinyl), and compared them with the design most commonly used …

Dynamics Of Virus Shedding And Antibody Responses In Influenza A Virus-Infected Feral Swine, Hailiang Sun, Fred L. Cunningham, Jillian Harris, Yifei Xu, Li-Ping Long, Katie C. Hanson-Dorr, John A. Baroch, Paul Fioranelli, Mark W. Lutman, Tao Li, Kerri Pedersen, Brandon S. Schmit, Jim Cooley, Xiaoxu Lin, Richard G. Jarman, Thomas J. Deliberto, Xui-Feng Wan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Given their free-ranging habits, feral swine could serve as reservoirs or spatially dynamic ‘mixing vessels’ for influenza A virus (IAV). To better understand virus shedding patterns and antibody response dynamics in the context of IAV surveillance amongst feral swine, we used IAV of feral swine origin to perform infection experiments. The virus was highly infectious and transmissible in feral swine, and virus shedding patterns and antibody response dynamics were similar to those in domestic swine. In the virus-inoculated and sentinel groups, virus shedding lasted ≤6 and ≤9 days, respectively. Antibody titres in inoculated swine peaked at 1 : 840 on …