Digital Commons Network^™

Rare, Threatened And Endangered Species Of Oregon (2016), James S. Kagan, Sue Vrilakas, John A. Christy, Eleanor P. Gaines, Lindsey Wise, Cameron Pahl, Kathy Howell

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

Extinction is a natural process. Today, however, plant and animal species are disappearing world-wide at an accelerated pace. Based on current trends, half of the species on earth will be extinct within the next 100 years. The major reasons for this are human caused changes to the environment, which continue to increase - in Oregon and throughout the world.

Once lost, a species can never be recovered, and there is no way of knowing how useful it may have been. We do know that human beings and many of their industries depend on plant and animal products. About 50% of …

Utilizing Egocentric Video And Sensors To Conduct Naturalistic Bicycling Studies, Feng Liu, Miguel A. Figliozzi

TREC Final Reports

Existing data collection methods are mostly designed for videos captured by stationary cameras and are not designed to follow cyclists along a route or to integrate other sensor data. The goals of this research are: a) to develop a platform to collect naturalistic video bicycling data, b) to develop a methodology to integrate video data with other sensors that measure cyclists’ position and comfort levels, and c) to apply the platform and data collection methodology to a real-world route. This research effort has successfully integrated video and sensor data to describe cyclists’ comfort levels along a route. It was found …

Semantic Knowledge Use In Discourse Produced By Individuals With Anomic Aphasia, Stephen Kintz, Heather Harris Wright, Gerasimos Fergadiotis

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background---Researchers have demonstrated that people with aphasia (PWA) have preserved semantic knowledge (Dell et al., 1997; Jefferies & Lambon Ralph, 2006). However, Antonucci (2014) demonstrated that some PWA have impaired access to certain types of knowledge more than others. Yet, all these studies used single concepts. It has not been demonstrated whether PWA have difficulty accessing certain types of features within a discourse sample.

Aims—The main goals of this study were to determine if semantic knowledge and two category types were used differently within discourse produced by participants with anomic aphasia and healthy controls.

Method & Procedures—Participants …

Diabetes Is Associated With Cerebrovascular But Not Alzheimer's Disease Neuropathology, Erin L. Abner, Peter T. Nelson, Richard J. Kryscio, Frederick A. Schmitt, David W. Fardo, Randall L. Woltjer, Nigel J. Cairns, Lei Yu, Hiroko H. Dodge, Chengjie Xiong, Kamal Masaki, Suzanne L. Tyas, David A. Bennett, Julie A. Schneider, Zoe Arvanitakis

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: The relationship of diabetes to specific neuropathologic causes of dementia is incompletely understood.

METHODS: We used logistic regression to evaluate the association between diabetes and infarcts, Braak neurofibrillary tangle stage, and neuritic plaque score in 2365 autopsied persons. In a subset of >1300 persons with available cognitive data, we examined the association between diabetes and cognition using Poisson regression.

RESULTS: Diabetes increased odds of brain infarcts (odds ratio [OR] = 1.57, P < .0001), specifically lacunes (OR = 1.71, P < .0001), but not Alzheimer's disease neuropathology. Diabetes plus infarcts was associated with lower cognitive scores at end of life than infarcts or diabetes alone, and diabetes plus high level of Alzheimer's neuropathologic changes was associated with lower mini-mental state examination scores than the pathology alone.

DISCUSSION: This study supports the conclusions that diabetes increases the risk of cerebrovascular but not Alzheimer's disease pathology, and at least some of diabetes' relationship to …

The Association Of Southeast Asian Nations Agricultural Total Factor Productivity, 1961–2011, Lee Kottmeyer

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This article estimates agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth in eight Southeast Asian nations over the time period of 1961-2011, using panel data. This study is concerned with investigating whether the recent slowdown in agricultural productivity growth exhibited by affluent societies extends to this region. Three approaches for measuring agricultural total factor productivity growth are used. First, a non-parametric Simple TFP, output, and input index is calculated. Second, a non-parametric nonstochastic Malmquist index is calculated using data envelopment analysis techniques. Finally, an econometric true fixed effects stochastic frontier model is estimated using a maximum likelihood procedure. Aggregate measures of TFP …

Morphological And Molecular Identification And Characterization Of Dry Bean Fungal Root Rot Pathogens In Zambia, Chikoti Mukuma

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Dry bean is among the most important food legume crops for direct human consumption in Latin America and Africa. Recently, root and crown rot (RCR) has emerged as an important production constraint. Root and crown rot often involve fungal complexes. Thus, the straw, detached leaf, cup and stem tests were compared on their ability to detect the most common pathogens reported to be associated with RCR: Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Pythium ultimum, Rhizoctonia solani and Macrophomina phaseolina.Significant differences (P

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), conventional Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and classical fungal culturing methods were compared in identification of …

Effect Of Dung Beetles On Dung Decomposition And Nutrient Cycling In A Nebraska Rangeland, Kenneth Shay Evans

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Management practice can have impacts on the abundance and frequency of dung beetle populations and nutrient cycling in grazing systems. Also, agriculture and livestock production land use is a considerable source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which are known to be one of the causes of global climate change. In this study, we evaluated the effect of dung beetle presence on the fluxes of greenhouse gasses (GHG’s) from dung pats in the semi-arid Sandhills region of Nebraska, by using closed chambers to measure the fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N …

Implementing A Positive Variation Of The Good Behavior Game With The Use Of A Computer-Based Program, Shauna Lynne

Dissertations

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is an interdependent group contingency designed to address behavioral concerns. The vast majority of published findings on the GBG have supported its effectiveness in decreasing disruptive behavior in classroom settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and the social validity of a positive variation of the GBG in which teachers were asked to use ClassDojo to manage each team’s progress. ClassDojo is a computer-based program that enables teachers to track student behavior and monitor progress by way of a virtual system. Dependent variables included class-wide disruptive and academically engaged behavior (AEB), …

The Effect Of Auditory Stimulation On Sleep Disruption In West Indian Manatee (Trichechus Manatus Latirostris), Natalija Lace

Dissertations

Florida manatees inhabit waterways where motorized boats are common. Although manatee mortalities resulting from boat strikes are well documented, the effect of boat noise on some manatee behaviors, including rest, has not been investigated. This study focuses on rest behavior and used a playback experiment with four manatees at the Lowry Park Zoo in Florida. We tested their responses to playback stimuli of either boat noise, silence, or manatee calls. A playback trial was initiated when the focal animal showed behavioral characteristics of rest.

Results showed that rest was interrupted in response to the playback of boat noise for each …

Early Parental Loss, Socioeconomic Stressors, And Health In Later Life: Evidence For Gender Disparity, Rong Fu

Open Access Dissertations

Drawing from the stress process model and the cumulative disadvantage theory, this dissertation examined how childhood and later life stressors affected cognitive and subjective health in older adults. Using three main articles, this dissertation investigated (1) the effect of early parental loss on cognitive well-being in Chinese oldest old; (2) the effect of intergenerational socioeconomic mobility on cognitive and subjective health in advanced age; and (3) the effect of different dimensions of socioeconomic status and perceived financial strain on subjective health in later life. Data were derived from the 2002 and 2005 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. …

Fuel Type Estimation Using Fuel System Parameters, Shambhavi Balasubramanian

Open Access Theses

A number of factors are responsible for an increased interest in alternative fuels for transportation and other uses. Among the most widely available alternative fuels are biodiesel and vegetable oil, both of which can be used to power a diesel engine. Biodiesel has higher density, viscosity, surface tension, sound velocity, and bulk modulus of elasticity than regular diesel fuel. This affects the fuelling, injection timing, and fuel spray and consequently the emission characteristics.

Estimation of fuel type is critical to the performance of the engine. Knowing the fuel type allows the engine controller to determine the proper fuel quantity and …

Fructose 1,6-Bisphosphate Aldolase, A Novel Immunogenic Surface Protein On Listeria Species, Mercelo L. Mendonça, Gustavo Marçal Schmidt Garcia Moreira, Fabrício Fabrício Conceição, Michael Hust, Karla Sequeira Mendonça, Ângela Nunes Moreira, Rodrigo Correa Orrea França, Wladimir Padilha Da Silva, Arun K. Bhunia, José Antônio Guimarães Uimarães Aleixo

Department of Food Science Faculty Publications

Listeria monocytogenes is a ubiquitous food-borne pathogen, and its presence in food or production facilities highlights the importance of surveillance. Increased understanding of the surface exposed antigens on Listeria would provide potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets. In the present work, using mass spectrometry and genetic cloning, we show that fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) class II in Listeria species is the antigen target of the previously described mAb-3F8. Western and dot blot assays confirmed that the mAb-3F8 could distinguish all tested Listeria species from close-related bacteria. Localization studies indicated that FBA is present in every fraction of Listeria cells, including supernatant and …

Blind But Seeing: Post-Clinical Medicine In Jose Saramago's Blindness, Matthew J. Ftacek

All NMU Master's Theses

This project examines José Saramago’s Blindness (1996) in the context of two other narratives focused on plagues and epidemics – Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) and Albert Camus’ The Plague (1947) – each written at different points in time during the development of clinical medicine as chronicled by Michel Foucault’s Birth of the Clinic. The paper draws heavily upon Foucault’s work on clinical medicine, as well as a number of different theories of medical history, government policy, and cultural attitudes towards health and illness. The goal of the project is twofold: first, to examine how …

Paranormal Orgy, Cameron M. Contois

All NMU Master's Theses

Paranormal Orgy is a novel length work that explores a world full of the paranormal— demons and vampires and aliens— and how some very real, very flawed characters get by in the face of these monsters. Many different points of view are utilized in this work, beginning with the point of view of a 15-year-old girl who may or may not be possessed. Haunted by the prospect of growing up, this girl attempts to live and love in the world of the strange. Other point of views explored include that of an addict, an estranged daughter, a strict grandmother, and …

Ghost, Moving, Andrea Wuorenmaa

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection of creative nonfiction essays weaves a journey through local history, genealogy, physical landscape, and personal memoir. The essays therein investigate the past through the lens of the present, and the present as informed by the past. Written from a first person perspective, many of the essays directly address individuals or time periods long gone, while all of them are constructed with the memory, research, and imagination of the author.

Though this collection is rooted in history, it also relies on the metaphysical to create a vision of the past. Intangible themes—life, death, a farewell to things and people …

Spatial, Roadway, And Biotic Factors Associated With Barn Owl (Tyto Alba) Mortality And Characteristics Of Mortality Hotspots Along Interstates 84 And 86 In Idaho, Erin Melissa Arnold

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

One of the world’s highest roadway mortality rates for barn owls (Tyto alba) occurs along Interstate 84/86 (I-84/86) in southern Idaho. Although mortality occurs in numerous portions of the I-84/86 corridor, there are segments where relatively much higher numbers of owls are killed (in total comprising >20% of the corridor total, hereafter “hotspots”). My objectives were to 1) identify areas of greatest mortality (hotspots), 2) understand the spatial, roadway, and biotic factors potentially contributing to barn owl-vehicle collisions and 3) assess how mortality hotspots have changed over time. If factors contributing to barn owl mortality along highways can …

Gang Behavior At Carcasses In Wintering Striated Caracaras (Phalcoboenus Australis) In The Falkland Islands, Anna Rose Autilio

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Avian scavengers perform vital ecosystem services by removing waste and by slowing disease. Yet few details are known about the purpose or purposes of social interactions near carcasses and their role in the physical depletion of carcasses (Gangoso et al. 2013). The globally Near-Threatened Striated Caracara is a social scavenging falconid that relies on seabird colonies for food during the breeding season in the Falkland Islands, a principal stronghold in its range. The birds have been persecuted as livestock pests since the late 1800s. Although the population is now protected and remains stable, it does not appear to be growing. …

Romantically Themed Media And The Development Of Children's Understanding Of Love, Tiffani Noelle Isaacson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the influence of romantically themed media on children's understanding of love and romantic relationships. By reviewing literature on relevant media influence theories, learning theories, and the consequences of learning through media, I review how children gain understandings of their world through the media. I then argue that as children identify and internalize meanings through exposure to romantically themed media, such as iconic Disney films, understandings of romantic relationships are shaped. By engaging in qualitative interviews of young children, this thesis investigates whether children can identify iconic Disney images and explores the ways children explain what it means …

The Proteolysis Of Apolipoprotein E In Alzheimer's Disease, Julia Love

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Harboring the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) allele is the greatest genetic risk factor associated with late-onset (sporadic) Alzheimer’s disease (AD), however the mechanism by which apoE4 contributes to the pathology of AD is unknown. The proteolysis of apoE4 has been suggested to contribute to AD pathology due to a possible toxic gain, or loss of function. In order to determine if apoE4 is being cleaved, we designed and characterized a site-directed cleavage antibody directed at position D151 of full length human apoE4. The antibody (nApoECFp17) detected a predicted ~17 kDa fragment following incubation with the proteases Type-1 collagenase, and …

Gyrfalcon Diet During The Brood Rearing Period On The Seward Peninsula, Alaska, In The Context Of A Changing World, Bryce W. Robinson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

As climate change impacts increase so does our need to understand their effects on ecosystem dynamics. I studied Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) diet during the brood rearing period to improve our knowledge on dietary habits during nesting, and provide necessary information for understanding climate change impacts to Arctic ecosystems. I studied diet over two breeding seasons on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, using two methods: motion-activated cameras and the collection of prey remains. I observed three important dietary shifts: the proportion of ptarmigan in the diet declined significantly throughout the season, the proportion of large prey items declined significantly throughout …

An Investigation Of Herbivory And Seed Predation On Slickspot Peppergrass, Michelle I. Jeffries

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study was completed during the summers of 2014 and 2015 to continue research on the relationship between harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex salinus) and slickspot peppergrass (Lepidium papilliferum). Slickspot peppergrass is a rare mustard endemic to south western Idaho. Over the past century, the species has declined in abundance, largely as a result of habitat degradation and fragmentation. In addition to these reasons for decline, seed foraging by harvester ants and plant destruction by harvester ants and small mammal herbivores have been recently indicated as potential factors. This study confirmed that harvester ants remove large numbers of …

Earlier Nesting By A Predatory Bird Is Associated With Human Adaptations To Climate Change, Shawn Heath Smith

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Advancing growing seasons and prey abundance drive earlier breeding in dietary specialists because, ultimately, consumers benefit by timing their reproduction to coincide with peak prey abundance. The selective pressure to breed earlier may be lower for species that forage on diverse prey items that vary in abundance both spatially and temporally. The selective pressure may be reduced further if predators have access to a mosaic of habitats, each of which having different shifts in growing seasons. We studied whether earlier breeding of a predatory generalist, the American kestrel (Falco sparverius) nesting in a mosaic of habitat types was …

Effects Of Human Maternal Placentophagy On Postpartum Maternal Affect, Health, And Recovery, Sharon Marie Young

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Postpartum ingestion of the afterbirth by the mother, or maternal placentophagy, is a common behavior among eutherian mammals, including non-human primates, with humans as a rare exception. Despite the conspicuous absence of placentophagy in the cross-cultural ethnographic record, the practice appears to be gaining popularity among a small but growing number of advocates in various industrialized contexts who claim that the practice provides benefits to the postpartum mother, namely the relief and prevention of postpartum blues and depressive symptoms, improved breast milk production, and enhanced bonding with their infant. Because the placenta serves as an endocrine organ throughout pregnancy and …

Evaluation Of Agricultural Policy In The Dairy Sector In Kosovo And Efficiency Analysis At The Farm Level, Egzon Bajrami

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of two studies on the dairy sector in Kosovo. The first study evaluates the effect of the Subsidy per Head Scheme (SPHS) on increasing production, land use, gross income and number of dairy cows on dairy farms in Kosovo. Results from the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach using four alternative matching algorithms revealed that SPHS has not had any impact on increasing land use, gross income or the number of dairy cows per farm. Furthermore, SPHS had a negative impact on decreasing land use and number of cows for the participating dairy farmers in the program. In …

Negotiating The Politics Of Representation In Iranian Women’S Cinema Before And After The Islamic Revolution, Alshaatha Sultan Al Sharji

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From Mahvash, the Iranian entertainer who sang and danced coquettishly in numerous Iranian films that were produced before the Islamic revolution of 1979, to the skateboarding vampire girl who makes a feast out of abusive men in Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, the representation of Iranian women on screen has changed drastically. This comparative study focuses on the politics of representation of Iranian women in the cinema before and after the Islamic revolution, with the aim of deconstructing the readily-available notions of women’s oppression in Iran. It analyzes the works of female Iranian directors Forough …

Comparison Of Three Techniques To Identify And Count Individual Animals In Aerial Imagery, Pat A. Terletzky, Robert Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Whether a species is rare and requires protection or is overabundant and needs control, an accurate estimate of population size is essential for the development of conservation plans and management goals. Current wildlife surveys are logistically difficult, frequently biased, and time consuming. Therefore, there is a need to provide additional techniques to improve survey methods for censusing wildlife species. We examined three methods to enumerate animals in remotely sensed aerial imagery: manual photo interpretation, an unsupervised classification, and multi- image, multi-step technique. We compared the performance of the three techniques based on the probability of correctly detecting animals, the probability …

A Study Of Church Attendance Among Young Adults, Scott W. Frisbie

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Errors Spell Checkers Do Not Correct And Style Sheet: 5 Years Later, Charles J. Higgins

Finance Faculty Works

This updated listing of words that are often confused by spell checkers is the most downloaded article among my works and those at my university. After 5 years, it has been frequently revised and added to with more than a thousand new words.

South Padre Island Beach Management: Assessment Of Dune Restoration, Shelby Rose Bessette

Theses and Dissertations

Dune restoration is a common method of increasing coastal resilience. A dune restoration program was initiated by the City of South Padre Island, TX in 2010 consisting primarily of plantings of Sea Oats, Uniola paniculata, and Bitter Panicum, Panicum amarum and has continued approximately annually thereafter. These restoration efforts were evaluated in this study by comparing dune ecological structure and function among reference sites and restoration plots ranging in age from 2 to 5 years. Plant and animal communities were examined using a combination of quadrat sampling, funnel traps, pit-falls and sweep nets. Soil organic content and soil electric …

Perceptual Determinants Of Consumption Philanthropy Donation Intentions: Consumption Or Philanthropy?, Nese Nasif

Theses and Dissertations

Consumption philanthropy is the concurrent consumption of self-interested products while contributing to a charitable cause. Although this overarching notion has been widely investigated in the context of cause-related marketing, there has been little work done in marketing or other disciplines in its alternative context of donor giving behavior. Thus, the current research conceptually develops and empirically investigates a model of consumption philanthropy donation intentions (CPDI) where a potentially valued gift is offered in return for a monetary donation by an individual consumer. The conceptual model integrates three fundamental frameworks from marketing and psychology, as well as incorporates a multi-disciplinary body …