Digital Commons Network^™

A Spatio-Temporal Model Of Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Ecology Across The North American Great Plains Throughout The Paleoindian Period: Development Of Biological Theory And Statistical Methods To Link Human Evolutionary Biology, Ecology, And The Archaeological Record, Erik Roque Otárola-Castillo

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Hunter-gatherers spread to nearly every corner of the planet in large part due to their flexible ability to forage for high-quality foods in diverse environments. The study of human foraging behavior is therefore crucial to understanding the proximate and ultimate factors that have shaped human evolutionary history. Although not necessarily in an evolutionary context, the foraging behavior of Paleoindian hunter-gatherers in North America has been studied for over a century. Researchers have paid particular attention to Paleoindian foragers’ hunting of big game across the grasslands of the Great Plains, shedding light on “what†prey Paleoindians foraged, “where†foraging occurred on …

Pathogenic And Non-Pathogenic Strains Of Vibrio Parahaemolyticus In Long Island Sound: Biotic And Abiotic Factors Promoting Abundance, Jake Thickman

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Food safety is a major concern in the shellfish industry, as severe illness can result from consuming shellfish that have accumulated waterborne pathogens. Shellfish harvesting areas are typically monitored for indicator bacteria such as fecal coliforms that serve as proxies for enteric pathogens introduced from surrounding waterways, but these indicators have shown little relation to some naturally occurring pathogenic bacteria such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp). To examine the dynamics and ecology of pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains of Vp and address the relevance of indicator bacteria in predicting Vp concentrations, field surveys and experiments were carried out in western Long Island …

Investigating Cellular And Molecular Interactions Between The Hard Clam (Mercenaria Mercenaria) And Its Pathogen Quahog Parasite Unknown (Qpx), Rachel Hartman

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Quahogs, or hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) are an economically important species of clam. They are often used for human consumption, but can also be indicators of water quality because of the bioaccumulation of contaminants within filter feeders. They are found abundantly on the east coast of the United States and Canada, and actively aquacultured from Massachusetts to Florida. The hard clam is a robust species with few naturally-occurring diseases. The most well-known disease of the hard clam is Quahog Parasite Unknown (QPX), a unicellular parasite found on the east coast of North America from Virginia up into Canada, causing well-documented …

Response To Monetary And Social Feedback During Development: Associations With Depressive Symptomatology And Risk, Jennifer Nicole Bress

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Depression represents a major public health concern, with particularly harmful effects in children. Existing interventions show relatively low response rates and high relapse rates, and there has been a recent effort to identify biomarkers of depression that may improve interventions and guide the way for novel treatments. One potential biomarker is the neural response to reward. However, existing studies typically focus on monetary reward, which may be less relevant to children and adolescents than social feedback. The current study focused on the feedback negativity (FN), an event-related potential (ERP) typically elicited by monetary feedback, in the context of a novel, …

The Music Of Romantic Poetry And The Mediation Of Romanticism, Matthew J. Gilbert

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In the poetry of British Romanticism, “music†has a significance that stretches across versification, figurative conceits, rapidly evolving generic modes, song lyrics, the cultural practice of music, impassioned recitation, the conspicuous silence of print, and the sale of printed books—in other words, an interrelated spectrum of issues that reaches through formalism to historicism and beyond. Music’s relevance to various romantic cultures, as well as its many tropes and topoi, mirrors a conceptual versatility that poets found abundantly instrumental when sitting down (or walking along) to contemplate the relation of self and craft, craft and culture, and, above all, sound and …

The Macro- And Micro-Anatomy Of Primate Volar Surfaces, Amanda Kathryn Kingston

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The soft tissues of the volar surfaces of primate hands and feet are the primary point of interaction between an individual animal and its environment and, as such, are likely to be under strong functional selection. These tissues serve three major functions: 1) force attenuation – the volar fat pads assist in attenuating reaction forces generated during grasping locomotion; 2) friction enhancement – the volar fat pads also act as viscoelastic surfaces that increase the coefficient of friction between the pads and substrate at low body weights; in addition, the ridged volar skin interlocks with and thus increases friction with …

The Missouri Miner, December 1, 2016

The Missouri Miner Newspaper

No abstract provided.

Heterodimers As The Structural Unit Of The T=1 Capsid Of The Fungal Double-Stranded Rna Rosellinia Necatrix Quadrivirus 1, Daniel Luque, Carlos P. Mata, Fernando González-Camacho, José M. González, Josué Gómez-Blanco, Carlos Alfonso, Germán Rivas, Wendy M. Havens, Satoko Kanematsu, Nobuhiro Suzuki, Said A. Ghabrial, Benes L. Trus, José R Castón

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Most double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses are transcribed and replicated in a specialized icosahedral capsid with a T=1 lattice consisting of 60 asymmetric capsid protein (CP) dimers. These capsids help to organize the viral genome and replicative complex(es). They also act as molecular sieves that isolate the virus genome from host defense mechanisms and allow the passage of nucleotides and viral transcripts. Rosellinia necatrix quadrivirus 1 (RnQV1), the type species of the family Quadriviridae, is a dsRNA fungal virus with a multipartite genome consisting of four monocistronic segments (segments 1 to 4). dsRNA-2 and dsRNA-4 encode two CPs (P2 and …

Is Applied Behavioral Analysis Education, Medicine, Or Both?: A Study Of The Funding Challenges That Accompany An Autism Diagnosis, Yaakov Pollak

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

Diet And Foraging Behaviors Of Timber Rattlesnakes, Crotalus Horridus, In Eastern Virginia, Scott M. Goetz, Christopher E. Petersen, Robert K. Rose, John D. Kleopfer, Alan H. Savitzky

Biology Faculty Publications

During a 17-yr telemetry study, we examined the diet and ambush behavior of a population of Crotalus horridus in southeastern Virginia. Forty dietary items were identified from 37 fecal samples. We documented 722 instances of snakes in an ambush posture, 61% of which were in a vertical-tree posture, as if hunting arboreal prey at the base of a tree. The most common prey items were Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), which accounted for 45% of all dietary items and represented an estimated 78% of total biomass consumed by C. horridus. Prey was not consumed in proportion to availability, based on …

Investigating Intra-Island Translocation As A Conservation Strategy For The Turks And Caicos Iguana: The Impact Of Homing And Stress, Tarren Kay Wagener

Psychology Dissertations - Archive

The Turks and Caicos iguana, Cyclura carinata, is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature due to introduced mammals and habitat alteration from human development. Inter-island translocations are a key conservation strategy for the species and, while resource intensive, have been successful to date. However suitable islands for translocation (good habitat and free of mammals) are scarce despite a surplus of animals threatened by human development. Intra-island translocation strategies that complement human needs must be found. Big Ambergris Cay (supporting the single largest remaining population of TCI iguanas) presents a unique opportunity to determine …

Associations Between Weight Status And Post-Tonsillectomy Pain Experiences In Children: A Retrospective Study, Shirley Smith Martin

Nursing Dissertations - Archive

There has been little research on pain outcomes in obese and overweight (OB/OW) children undergoing surgery. Tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy (T&A) is one of the most common painful surgeries performed in children. The estimated number of OB/OW children undergoing T&A each year approaches 200,000. Post-tonsillectomy pain (PTP) management after surgery is complicated by potential for airway obstruction or altered drug metabolism in OB/OW children. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between weight status and PTP outcomes in the PACU. A retrospective correlational cohort design was used. Data were obtained from 180 electronic health records of children who had …

Optimal Attribute Weighting In A Nearest Neighbor Classifier, Jugal Raju Sheth

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Nearest Neighbor algorithms are non-parametric algorithms that use distance measure techniques for classification and regressions. This thesis, first improves the traditional nearest neighbor classifier by optimizing its distance measure using a second order training algorithm. It then presents a second order method to adjust center vectors. It is shown that the distance measure weight optimization and center vector optimization, individually and together reduce the final classification error. The testing error of our algorithm is shown to be less than that of LVQ V.2.1

The Effects Of Feeders On Pollen Abundance And Diversity Carried By Hummingbirds, December 2016, Georgia Riggs

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Hummingbird feeders may appear to be something that brings life and excitement close to viewers. However, not much is known about how this unlimited food source alters the pollination of plants that rely on hummingbirds. It could be possible that feeders deter hummingbirds from visiting flowers. I studied the effects of feeders on hummingbird-carried pollen abundance and diversity. I used two sites for my study, one that has had feeders for nearly 20 years and another site where I introduced feeders for the first time. With these feeders, I collected pollen samples from the heads of visiting hummingbirds and then …

Captive Jaguar Behavior And Best Practice Management, December 2016, Kathleen E. Knight

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

As the number of jaguars in captivity grows, the need to better understand the activity level and behavioral effects of captive jaguars increases. By understanding the specific activities and behaviors of jaguars in captivity, it is possible to better provide for the overall health of these animal in rescue centers, zoos, and wildlife sanctuaries. This first part of this study consists of a comprehensive activity budget report, which assesses the activity and inactivity levels in a male jaguar and female jaguar at the Centro Rescate de Las Pumas in Cañas, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. These activity budgets were constructed through an …

Archinsects And Arachnitects: The Leaf Structures That Arthropods Construct In The Protected Areas Of Monteverde, December 2016, Holly Eichrodt

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

This study aimed to understand which insect and arachnid families manipulate leaves to make shelters and for what purposes they make them. I investigated the types of structures they create and how this may benefit their survivorship within three diverse protected areas of Monteverde- Estación Biológica Monteverde, Bajo del Tigre and Rachel Dwight Crandell Reserve. I collected a total of 56 individuals in the orders Lepidoptera, Araneae, and Orthoptera. I quantified the different types of leaf modifications made as well as the plant family in which they were made. I wanted to determine if there was specificity within the different …

Conservation And Tourism In The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, December 2016, Kurtis Bonano

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

The goal of protected areas is to protect the flora and fauna contained within them. Tourism may adversely affect the species contained in the protected area while also generating revenue to keep a protected area open. This study aimed to find if there is a correlation between number of tourists and the abundance of wildlife within the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. Mammal and bird abundance and tourist abundance estimates were made using Bushnell HD camera traps over 96 trap nights. A positive correlation was found between the number of visitors and the number of animal individuals photographed at night …

Microbial Diversity On The Skin Of Frogs, December 2016, Ashley Clow

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Frogs interact with their environment directly through their skin through activities that are necessary for survival, such as respiration and rehydration. This causes vulnerability to pathogens like B. dendrobatidis, the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus, that can be picked up in the environment and passed between individuals. I ask if other types of fungi are present on the skin of frogs and whether they are picked up in the environment or living on the skin. To answer these questions, I swabbed 19 individuals from five species of frogs and cultured the fungi that I collected. Nine different types of fungi or fungal …

Starfruit Leaves As Glucose Absorption Inhibitor In Mice’S Small Intestinal Epithelial Cells, Rifqi Y. Muhammad, Ramdan Panigoro, Julius B. Dewanto

Makara Journal of Health Research

Background: Starfruit (Averrhoa carambola) leaves contain flavone derivatives that exhibit anti-hyperglycemic effects. This study aims to determine the effect of starfruit leaves in reducing glucose absorption in intestinal epithelial cells of mice. Methods: This study was done by performing perfusion on the small intestines of mice. The mice that were used in this study were divided into four groups. The control group was given glucose solution without infused starfruit leaves whereas, the remaining 3 groups were given 3 mmol (540 mg/dL) glucose solution with infused starfruit leaves of varying concentrations; 200, 400, and 600 mg/kg. Samples were collected at 0, …

A Novel Codon-Optimized Siv Gag-Pol Immunogen For Gene-Based Vaccination, Catherine M. Crosby, Eric A. Weaver, Reeti Khare, Michael A. Barry

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is a robust pathogen used in non-human primates to model HIV vaccines. SIV encodes a number of potential vaccine targets. By far the largest and most conserved protein target in SIV is its gag-pol protein that bears many epitopes to drive multivalent immune T cell responses. While gag-pol is an attractive antigen, it is only translated after a frame shift between gag and pol with the effect that gag and pol are expressed at an approximate 10/1 ratio. The codon bias of native lentiviral genes are also mismatched with the abundance of tRNAs in mammalian cells …

Rod Library Newsletter: Rod Notes, V9n5, December 2016/January 2017, University Of Northern Iowa. Rod Library.

Rod Library newsletter: Notes for the Stalled

Contents:

--Antique Words Game Night
--De-stress with Rod
--Moving Words
-- Rock the Stacks IV
-- Upcoming Events

2017 Calendar: Music & Theater Images From The C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Departement, Special Collections Staff

Annual Calendars

Celebrating 50 Years of Archives at the UTEP Library

Celebration 50 Years of Archives at the UTEP Library 2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Archives Department at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Library. In September 1967 Library Director Baxter Polk created the Library Archives and appointed El Paso historian Leon C. Metz as UTEP’s first archivist. Metz argued that the university “had an obligation to the community and the surrounding area to preserve its historical heritage.” He envisioned an archive that actively collected materials about the history of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico – …

The Dynamics Of Adult Neurogenesis In Human Hippocampus, Amadi O. Ihunwo, Lackson H. Tembo, Charles Dzamalala

Brain and Mind Institute

The phenomenon of adult neurogenesis is now an accepted occurrence in mammals and also in humans. At least two discrete places house stem cells for generation of neurons in adult brain. These are olfactory system and the hippocampus. In animals, newly generated neurons have been directly or indirectly demonstrated to generate a significant amount of new neurons to have a functional role. However, the data in humans on the extent of this process is still scanty and such as difficult to comprehend its functional role in humans. This paper explores the available data on as extent of adult hippocampal neurogenesis …

Working Themselves Impure: A Life Cycle Theory Of Legal Theories, Jeremy K. Kessler, David E. Pozen

University of Chicago Law Review

Prescriptive legal theories have a tendency to cannibalize themselves. As they develop into schools of thought, they become not only increasingly complicated but also increasingly compromised, by their own normative lights. Maturation breeds adulteration. The theories work themselves impure. This Article identifies and diagnoses this evolutionary phenomenon. We de velop a stylized model to explain the life cycle of certain particularly influential legal theories. We illustrate this life cycle through case studies of originalism, textualism, popular constitutionalism, and costbenefit analysis, as well as a comparison with leading accounts of organizational and theoretical change in politics and science. And we argue …

Small Community Oil Spill Preparedness Research Project, Christopher Covert

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

As transportation through the Arctic becomes more prevalent with tourism and oil exploration, small communities within the Arctic are susceptible to oil spills from fuel barges, passing ships, tank farms, and oily discharges. Oil spills threaten both humans and animals that co-habitat these Arctic regions. Little has been done to prepare these small communities in preparation for an oil spill and as a result they are not well protected. As the notion of globalization is incorporated into the Arctic it will be imperative to protect these small communities. To better understand this topic, the researcher took an analytical approach to …

The Effect Of Cultural Beliefs And Customs On Nutritional Attitudes And Food Choices Of Alaska Natives Living With Chronic Diseases In The Anchorage Metropolitan Area, Sadie Anderson

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

Alaska Native and American Indian people are heavily affected by chronic diseases such obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (Redwood, Lanier, Johnston, Asay, & Slattery, 2010). The presence or severity of many chronic diseases is directly correlated with the type of diet people consume. This study explored how culture influences the understanding of nutritional status and food choices of Alaska native people living in Anchorage, Alaska. Focus groups were held with Alaska Native adults who were living with a chronic disease. Open-ended questions were asked about the participants’ culture and food choices. Themes and subthemes emerged through data analysis using the …

Seasonal Habitat Use And Activity Of Bats In Relation To Prescribed Fire And Environmental Conditions, Leanne Katherine Leala Burns

All Theses

North American bats are becoming increasingly threatened due to stressors such as wind energy development and the emerging infectious disease white-nose syndrome. A better understanding of the seasonal behavior and habitat associations of temperate bat species can inform conservation strategies in the face of current threats, aiding effective management of remaining populations. To this end, we used acoustic bat detectors to examine summer occupancy and winter activity of bats in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area on the Cumberland Plateau. Our specific objectives were 1) investigate the effects of post-fire landscape conditions on the summer occurrence of commuting …

Uniform Micro-Patterning Of An Arbitrary Surface, Viraj Rajendra Kulkarni

All Theses

According to the literature, creating specific micro-level patterns on some surfaces can significantly reduce friction. To this effect, a method is presented to create a regular pattern of micro-level indentations on any irregular surface. Creating a uniform pattern on a regular surface is possible using commercial CAD software, where regular surface is the surface obtained by extrusion or revolution of a 2D sketch along any curve. But, it is complicated and often incorrect for irregular surfaces. The thesis presents the approach followed to create parameterized regular patterns on arbitrary surfaces. Three different algorithms are presented, each achieving a progressively increased …

Evolution In Light Of Mitonuclear Landscapes: An Examination Of Mitochondrial Replacement In Killifish (Fundulus Spp.), Stephen D. Flanagan

Dissertations

The mitochondria are responsible for the bulk of energy production in eukaryotes. They possess their own genome that works in conjunction with the nuclear genome to accomplish the extraordinarily important task of energy conversion. When species hybridize there will be a mismatch in evolutionary histories between these two genomes. The deleterious interactions of these genomes have been studied in great detail (i.e. hybrid breakdown). However, little work has been conducted to understand the population genetic, and morphological consequences of wide-ranging replacement. The Fundulus notatus complex is comprised of 3 species: F. notatus, F. olivaceus, and F. euryzonus. …

The Influence Of Head Teachers’ Predominant Leadership Styles On Students’ Learning In Public Primary Schools In Sianda Zone Kisumu Kenya: A Case Of Kasigu Primary School, Okongo Stephen Lugare

Master of Education

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the HTs’ predominant leadership styles on students’ learning in public primary schools in Sianda zone of Kisumu West Sub-county, Kisumu County. The study’s research questions were formulated to find out if there was any link between HTs’ predominant leadership styles and the students’ learning. The study adopted a mixed methods design and used interviews for the HT, teachers and parents; questionnaires for both teachers and the HT; focused group discussions (FDG) for the students’ leaders and documents analysis of the major school documents such as Board of Management …