Digital Commons Network^™

Intracranial Infusions Of Neurotensin Agonists Produce An Anxiolytic Profile In A Rat Ultrasonic Vocalization Model, Floyd F. Steele Iii

All NMU Master's Theses

Neurotensin (NT) is a peptide neurotransmitter that interacts with brain monoamine neurotransmitter systems. It has been demonstrated that neurotensin type 1 and type 2 receptor agonists influence animal models of psychological disorders and pain regulation, respectively. It has already been shown that the systemic administration of the selective neurotensin type 1 receptor agonist PD149163 can attenuate the number of fear-induced 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) produced by male Wistar rats. A reduction in the number of 22-kHz USV calls is indicative of an anxiolytic effect. The current study used a USV model to evaluate the effects of PD149163 (0.1, 1.0, and …

Yardbirds, Joshua A. Brewer

All NMU Master's Theses

Novel-length fictions, when at their best, deeply complicate themes, characters, events or situations using the form’s lengthy narrative arc. Yardbirds aims to employ the long narrative arc to engage a fictional west Arkansas mountain community, Ink, and the contemporary post-mill economy evoked. Yardbirds attempts to disorient the traditional notion of point-of-view to recognize the multifaceted power of the land. This work features a multi-racial, bilingual and multicultural community which confronts the longstanding black-white binary that has dominated literary depictions of the American South. This work aims to disrupt that notion—the South as monolith—by presenting bioregional communities as central to individuals’ …

Return And Recovery: The Influence Of Place On Blues Murder Ballads And Laguna Ceremony Cycles, Tyler J. Dettloff

All NMU Master's Theses

The relationships between place, narrative, memory, and identity are integral in many oral traditions. This project considers place as actively shaping Sterling’s identity in Laguna author Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Almanac of the Dead and R.L. Burnside’s rendition of the popular murder ballad “Stack O’Lee and Billy Lyons.” Ethical and personal views of land and place offers a method for individual and cultural survivance. Comparing these two separate “return and recovery” narratives offer a clear illustration of how land impacts identity.

Sterling’s home in Laguna Pueblo falls victim to the extraction industry and bares a scar that results in Sterling’s …

Prefrontal Cortex Activity During Attentional Bias Conditioning With Fearful Faces: A Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Analysis, Robert D. Torrence

All NMU Master's Theses

Observing a fearful facial expression elicits an automatic orienting of attention. Past research focusing on fear conditioning has used an unconditioned stimulus that the participant directly experiences (e.g. shock). Other research has focused on observational fear learning where the participant watches another individual receive the stimulus. The aim of this study was to condition a colored square with a fearful face in the dot-probe task. Orienting toward and disengagement from fearful faces was also examined using the dot-probe task. In addition, hemodynamic responses in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were measured using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). It was hypothesized that after pairing …

Evaluation And Application Of Population Size Estimators To Assess Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis) Response To A Non-Native Salmonid Removal In A Small Michigan Coldwater Stream, Joseph P. Gerbyshak

All NMU Master's Theses

Non-native salmonids have been stocked into the Great Lakes since the 1870s and now naturalized populations use tributary environments to reproduce and for their juvenile life stage. Historically, brook trout were the only salmonid to inhabit the tributary environment and numerous studies suggest that exotic salmonids negatively affect brook trout by competing for limited resources. Other studies have been successful at removing non-native salmonids and the native populations increased. During this project 5,320 exotic salmonids were removed from a tributary of Lake Superior from 2008 to 2010 significantly reducing their density and young-of-year brook trout density increased by 260% the …

The Tumor-Suppressive Properties Of Neural Stem Cells, Ryan Passino

All NMU Master's Theses

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive central nervous system malignancy that commonly causes immune suppression in patients to avoid immune recognition and clearance. This complicates treatment options and limits the effectiveness of immunotherapy strategies. Interestingly, GBM formation can stimulate the neurogenic subventricular zone of the cerebral cortex and causes the proliferation and migration of neural stem cells (NSCs) towards the tumor. This migration reflects the NSC wound repair response following CNS injury. Studies using NSCs surgically implanted into GBM tumors showed decreased tumor growth and increased animal survival in mice; however, the mechanisms underlying these anti-tumor properties of NSCs are …

Gene Regulation By A Novel Two-Component System Conserved Among Gammaproteobacteria, Kristin M. Jacob

All NMU Master's Theses

Two-component systems are common gene regulatory pathways seen in bacteria. Gene expression is controlled by these systems through a series of phosphorylation events between two proteins, a membrane bound sensor kinase and a cytoplasmic response regulator. Activation of a two-component system can be caused by biological or environmental stimuli, resulting in altered gene expression. A conserved two-component system was recently discovered in entomopathogenic bacteria, including our model organisms Pseudomonas entomophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and is homologous to the recently identified two-component system, CrbRS, in Vibrio cholerae. In V. cholerae CrbRS regulates acetate metabolism and controls virulence. The aim of this …

Breastfeeding With The Bronson Mothers’ Milk Bank, Marykate Bodnar

Masters Theses

Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo is home to one of only 15 certified breast milk banks in the United States. Women have shared breast milk for centuries through wet nurses, but this institutionalized and regulated version of sharing is distinct from previous forms. Breastfeeding has become a symbol of successful motherhood; donor milk adds a new dimension to this aspect of idealized motherhood. This study explores how the milk bank works: its organizational structure within a hospital, how donors are selected, and how recipients qualify for donor milk. It is grounded in Feminist and Medical Anthropology literature. Using semi-structured interviews …

Phase Change Lines, Scale Breaks And Trend Lines Using Excel 2013Tm, Neil Deochand

Masters Theses

The development of graphing skills for the behavior analyst is an ongoing process. Specialized graphing software is often expensive, not widely disseminated, and may require specific training. Dixon, et al. (2009) provided an updated task analysis (Carr & Burkholder, 1998) in the widely used platform Excel 2007. Vanselow and Bourret (2012) provided online tutorials outlining some alternate methods also using Office 2007. This article serves as an update to those task analyses with alternative and under-utilized methods in Excel 2013. To examine the utility of our recommendations twelve psychology graduate students were presented with the task analyses and the experimenters …

Evaluation Of An Interactive Workshop Designed To Teach Practical Welfare Techniques To Beef Cattle Caretakers And Decision Makers, Renee Dewell, Christy Hanthorn, Jared Danielson, Rebecca Burzette, Johann F. Coetzee, Dee Griffin, Alejandro Ramirez, Grant A. Dewell

Journal of Extension

The purpose of the project was to evaluate the use of an interactive workshop designed to teach novel practical welfare techniques to beef cattle caretakers and decision makers. Following training, respondents reported being more likely to use or recommend use of local anesthesia for dehorning and castration and were more inclined to use meloxicam for pain management. Respondents also reported improvement in performing all skills taught in the workshop. These results suggest instructional techniques used to teach practical concepts/techniques relevant to beef cattle welfare led to improvements in both perceived competency and estimated likelihood that the material will be used.

The Factors That Influence The Involvement Of Youth In Pennsylvania 4-H Extension District 16 Livestock Programs, Ben Weikert, Tracy Hoover, Rama Radhakrishna, Ann Swinkler

Journal of Extension

The study reported in this article determined the factors that influence the involvement of 4-H members in Pennsylvania 4-H District 16 livestock programs. The study used a descriptive research design. A survey was distributed to all 4-H livestock club (beef, sheep, swine, and goat club) members within the counties that comprise Penn State Extension District 16 (Adams, Franklin, and York counties). The major findings of the study align with previous research as parents were found to be the most significant influence in their children's involvement with 4-H. The financial cost of participation was the biggest limitation of involvement.

Industry And Extension Partnership To Enhance Stem And Agricultural Education, Brian T. Campbell, Carol A. Wilkinson, Pamela J. Shepherd, Paula Gray

Journal of Extension

STEM education has become essential in the United States, and agriculture allows for a great opportunity to teach STEM education in a fun, hands-on manner. The Virginia Southern Piedmont Agriculture Research and Extension Center (SPAREC), in partnership with King Arthur Flour, has created a program that reinforces what is taught in the classroom while also adding in new lessons in citizenship. This program has been very successful and serves as an excellent model for future partnerships between industry and Extension.

4-H Southern Swines Feral Hog Challenge, Kenneth T. Gioeli, Susan Munyan, Lindsay Adams, Joanna Huffman, Elizabeth Russakis, Edna Vachon

Journal of Extension

Estimates indicate that the population of feral hogs may exceed 500,000 in Florida. They have proven difficult to manage. Land managers in Florida reported that feral hogs were a significant problem that needed to be addressed. The UF/IFAS St. Lucie County Cooperative Extension conducted the 4-H Southern Swines Feral Hog Challenge to help land managers reduce feral hog populations in a cost-effective manner. This activity was conducted in 2013 and 2014 and resulted in the removal of one hundred and twenty three feral hogs weighing 18, 393 lbs. from the Florida environment.

Topological Spatial Verification For Instance Search, Wei Zhang, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper proposes an elastic spatial verification method for Instance Search, particularly for dealing with non-planar and non-rigid queries exhibiting complex spatial transformations. Different from existing models that map keypoints between images based on a linear transformation (e.g., affine, homography), our model exploits the topological arrangement of keypoints to address the non-linear spatial transformations that are extremely common in real life situations. In particular, we propose a novel technique to elastically verify the topological spatial consistency with the triangulated graph through a "sketch-and-match" scheme. The spatial topology configuration, emphasizing relative positioning rather than absolute coordinates, is first sketched by a …

Automatic Detection And Denoising Of Signals In Large Geophysical Datasets, Gabriel O. Trisca

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

To fully understand the complex interactions of various phenomena in the natural world, scientific disciplines such as geology and seismology increasingly rely upon analyzing large amounts of observations. However, data collection is growing at a faster rate than what is currently possible to analyze through traditional approaches. These datasets, supplied by the increasing use of sensors and remote sensing, require specialized computer programs to effectively analyze complex and expansive volumes of data.

Elaborating on existing geophysical data processing approaches for infrasound data collected from an avalanche-prone area, this project proposes new techniques for processing large geophysical datasets. These improved techniques …

Resolving Relationships At The Animal-Fungal Divergence: A Molecular Phylogenetic Approach For Understanding The Ecology And Evolution Of The Protist Trichomycetes, Nicole K. Reynolds

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Ichthyosporea (= Mesomycetozoea) is a relatively understudied class of unicellular symbionts that molecular phylogenies have placed at the divergence of animals and fungi. Subsumed in this class are the cosmopolitan families Eccrinidae and Amoebidiidae (referred to as “protist trichos” or “trichos” herein), which are considered obligate commensal endobionts of various arthropods, including marine, freshwater and terrestrial hosts. Once thought to be members of the fungal class Trichomycetes due to their hyphal-like growth form and ecological similarity, molecular evidence has necessitated reclassification. However, evolutionary relationships within and between them are still unclear as the number of taxa sampled and/or the …

A Method For Using Pre-Computed Scenarios Of Physically-Based Spatially-Distributed Hydrologic Models In Flood Forecasting Systems, Herman Guillermo Dolder

Theses and Dissertations

Every year floods are responsible of a significant number of human losses, many of which could be avoided with a broader implementation of flood forecasting systems. Nevertheless, there are still some technological and economic limitations that impede the creation of these systems in many parts of the world. At the core of many flood forecasting systems is a hydrologic model that transforms the weather forecast into a flow forecast. Using real-time modeling for potential floods poses a series of problems: if the model is complex, the computational power required can be significant, and consequently expensive, and if the model is …

The Effect Of Background Music On The Visual Categorization Of Printed Words In Normal Younger And Older Adults, Sukhada Vaidya Mairal

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Aim: Research has shown that background music, with and without vocal content, has a detrimental effect on cognitive task performance. Research has also shown a decline in processing speed as age increases. The present study seeks to answer the following questions: 1. Will background vocal music have any detrimental effects on performance of a visual semantic word categorization task? 2. Does age have any effect on performance of visual semantic word categorization in the presence of background music?

Participants: Participants consisted of 36 adult native speakers of English with normal speech and language divided in to two groups based on …

Ancient Magic And Modern Accessories: Developments In The Omamori Phenomenon, Eric Teixeira Mendes

Masters Theses

This thesis offers an examination of modern Japanese amulets, called omamori, distributed by Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines throughout Japan. As amulets, these objects are meant to be carried by a person at all times in which they wish to receive the benefits that an omamori is said to offer. In modern times, in addition to being a religious object, these amulets have become accessories for cell-phones, bags, purses, and automobiles. Said to protect people from accidents, disease, loneliness, failure, computer viruses, among many other things, these objects are one of the few material aspects of religion that are a …

Relationship Of Human Intrusion On Avian Body Mass: Do Recreationists Hinder Birds’ Abilities To Acquire Fat During Migration?, Laura Marsh

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Many North American landbirds undergo biannual migration, which is energetically costly. Quality stopover sites are crucial to avian survival, as they provide opportunities to quickly replenish fat stores, rest, and avoid predation. One component of habitat quality that is often overlooked is the level of pedestrian activity, which birds interpret as potential predators. If intrusion levels are high, birds will flush readily and may not adequately restore energy reserves, which hinders successful migration. I compared body mass index between birds at different intrusion levels, testing the hypothesis that birds near continuous intrusion are less capable of replenishing body fat. Results …

Hampton Roads Intergovernmental Pilot Project: Memo And Legal Primer, Roy Hoagland, Joe Durant, Jeremy Forrest, Kelly Lackey, Deborah Loomis, Benjamin Mcfarlane, Mark Nevitt, Adam Olson, Miguel Padilla, J. Duncan Pitchford, Henry Pollard, Mark Popovich, Lynne Rhode

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

The Hampton Roads area is experiencing the highest rates of sea-level rise along the U.S. East Coast. It is second only to New Orleans, Louisiana as the largest population center at risk from sea level rise in the country. And it is anticipated that Virginia will experience between 2.3 to 5.2 feet of sea level rise by the end of the century. This unprecedented challenge requires a comprehensive and effective planning response.

The mission of the Hampton Roads Sea Level Rise Pilot Project (“Pilot Project”) is to develop a regional whole of government and whole of community approach to sea …

Emergence Patterns Of Common Waterhemp And Palmer Amaranth In Southern Illinois, Lucas Xavier Franca

Theses

The continued spread of glyphosate-resistant common waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) Sauer (syn. rudis)] and Palmer amaranth [Amaranthus palmeri (S. Wats.)] have complicated weed control efforts in soybean and corn production in Illinois. A thorough understanding of the weed biology of these species is fundamental in developing effective weed management strategies. The determination of emergence patterns as well as the influence of tillage practices on soil microclimate and soil seed bank will allow control strategies to be implemented at the most effective timing. Field experiments were conducted in southern Illinois throughout the growing season of 2013 and 2014 on two separate …

Long-Term Shifts In The Phenology Of Rare And Endemic Rocky Mountain Plants, Seth M. Munson, Anna A. Sher

Biological Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

Premise of the study: Mountainous regions support high plant productivity, diversity, and endemism, yet are highly vulnerable to climate change. Historical records and model predictions show increasing temperatures across high elevation regions including the Southern Rocky Mountains, which can have a strong influence on the performance and distribution of montane plant species. Rare plant species can be particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their limited abundance and distribution.

• Methods: We tracked the phenology of rare and endemic species, which are identified as imperiled, across three different habitat types with herbarium records to determine if flowering time has changed …

Peroxy Radical - Water Complexes: Their Role In The Atmosphere, Sambhav Rajendra Kumbhani

Theses and Dissertations

The importance of radical-water complexes in the atmosphere is explored in this dissertation. Radicals, although present in small concentrations in the atmosphere, play a significant role in creating and removing atmospheric pollution. As the atmosphere warms and consequently gets wetter, it is essential to understand the effects of water vapor on radical chemistry. This dissertation reports studies on the effects of water vapor on the kinetics of the self-reaction of β-hydroxyethyl peroxy radical (β-HEP), a prominent organic peroxy radical in the atmosphere. Both experimental and computational studies have been performed to examine the effects of water vapor on the kinetics …

Use Of Photography To Support The Learning Process Of Science Teachers Of Ninth Through Twelfth Grade In The Schools Of Kuwait, Abdulaziz Alenizi

Dissertations

The research utilized a descriptive quantitative research design. The number of participants was limited to an acceptable number in the range of 250-300. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analyses were conducted using various types of statistical designs for interpretation, specifically Spearman correlation analysis. The study revealed that visual media such as images and photographs made it easy for the students to understand the concepts of science subjects, specifically biology, physics, and chemistry. Visual media should be included in the curriculum to enhance the comprehension level of students. The government of Kuwaiti, therefore, should to encourage the use of …

Adaptations Aligned To Academic Standards For Students With Significant Disabilities In General Education Contexts, Megan Stella Finnerty

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Heroes And Horses: Veteran And Equine Experiences With Equine Facilitated Learning And Therapy, Karen Elizabeth Krob

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Forgiveness As A Mediating Variable Between Attachment Style And Adult Love Relationships, Dayna Northart

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Exploring A Culture Of Learning With Technology: An Ethnographic Content Analysis Of The Activity Of Learning With Educational Ipad Apps, Akio Yamanaka

Dissertations

This study explored the culture of learning with educational iPad apps using

activity theory as a guiding framework. First, the top nine educational apps were tracked

in the Top Charts section of Apple’s App Store for a duration of four months. The nine

sampled apps, selected based on their frequency of appearance, included Toca Hair Salon

2, Stack the States, Endless Alphabet, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Wildlife Count Along,

Wild Kratts Creature Power World Adventure, Wallykazam! Letter and Word Magic,

Starfall Learn to Read, Dr. Panda’s Restaurant 2, and Bug Art. The descriptions, version

updates, app content, and customer reviews for …

Counseling Competencies For Child Maltreatment Risk Assessment And Management, Janessa Marie Parra

Dissertations

Child maltreatment is a widespread epidemic that has relevance to the work of counselors. The counseling profession has not yet established a set of standards that provide comprehensive guidance on how to prepare counselors to work with clients impacted by child maltreatment. The purpose of this dissertation study was to discover the domains and competencies necessary to prepare master’s-level counselors to assess and manage the risk of child maltreatment with clients. Twenty counseling and five non-counseling experts participated in this multi-round Delphi study. These expert expert- participants provided their opinions through a series of three structured surveys. Expert- participants created …