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Comparison Of Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes) Behavior On Tour And Non-Tour Days At Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Allison A. Farley

All Master's Theses

In this study, I investigated the potential effect of a visitor program on captive chimpanzees’ (Pan troglodytes) behaviors at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW) in Cle Elum, Washington. I used focal animal sampling to score behaviors from an ethogram of affiliative, aggressive and abnormal chimpanzee behaviors, as well as foraging and vigilance. During each sample, I recorded the focal’s location within the enclosure and whether he or she was situated in locations that would be in view of visitors (present or not). I analyzed 720 minutes of data from each of the seven CSNW chimpanzees. I tested the hypothesis …

Resolving Gnetum Evolutionary History, Angela Mcfadden

All Master's Theses

Gnetum are non-flowering seed plants of the tropics, indigenous to South America, Africa, and Asia. This group of about 40 species is fascinating to botanists because it shares distinctive morphological characteristics with flowering plants, such as broad leaves, woody stems, and flower-like strobili. There are still questions surrounding the relationships within the genus of Gnetum. With that in mind, I focused my work on generating phylogenetic hypotheses, using two molecular data sets: a concatenation of over 60 different chloroplast genes (66,815 base pairs), and the whole chloroplast genome (128,772 base pairs). This allowed me to compare the two phylogenies …

Mate Selection Comparisons In Heterosexual And Homosexual Individuals, Daina Lee Wierzbinski

All Master's Theses

The effects of character traits and socioeconomic status on mate selection for both heterosexual and homosexual individuals was studied. The current study recruited 347 Central Washington University students who ranked the importance of descriptive traits in a potential long-term mate, and also reported how willing they were to date a fictional potential mate in both a short-term and long-term context. Participants also described themselves in a dating profile scenario. The findings support the hypothesis that women are more interested in traits that signal resource acquisition and high socioeconomic status, and also support the hypothesis that men are more interested in …

Seasonal Microhabitat Use Of Young-Of-The-Year Bull Trout, Salvelinus Confluentus, In A Drought Year, Ashton Brook Bunce

All Master's Theses

This study examined the microhabitat use of young-of-the-year (YOY) bull trout, Salvelinus confluentus, throughout the summer and fall of 2015 in Gold Creek, a third order Cascade Mountain stream near Snoqualmie Pass, WA. It is crucial to understand YOY habitat requirements, as this life stage is highly vulnerable to fluctuations in streamflow and various ecological risks associated with their dispersal. Previous research has demonstrated that YOY salmonids often occupy stream margins where they are sheltered from these kinds of threats. However, in the face of climate change, Pacific Northwest streams are more susceptible to decreased summer streamflows and elevated, irregular …

High Diversity Of Trypanosoma Cruzi Discrete Typing Units Circulating In Triatoma In Western Mexico, Uyen T. Nguyen

All Master's Theses

Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to domestic and sylvatic mammals via the feces of hematophagous hemiptera of the subfamily Triatominae (Reduviidae). Trypanosoma cruzi is found only in the Americas and displays remarkable genetic diversity. Seven discrete typing units (DTUs) are currently recognized (TcI–TcVI and TcBat). In Jalisco, Mexico, where Chagas disease has a high prevalence rate, TcI has historically been the only DTU reported. This study focused on the molecular identification of T. cruzi DTUs circulating in Triatoma near the Estación de Biología Chamela, on the southwest coast of Jalisco, Mexico. …

The Hormonal Regulation Of The Claudin Genes In The Ovary, Sean Gadson, April Binder, Kenneth Korach, Katherine Hamilton

All Master's Theses

The ovary is a dynamic organ that responds to many hormonal signals. When these hormonal signals are disrupted, ovarian dysfunction can occur. One such example is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). PCOS patients suffer from high levels of testosterone. Excess testosterone may misregulate genes in the ovary and disrupt ovarian function. The Claudin (Cldn) 3 and Cldn11 genes have been shown to be regulated by androgens in the testis, while studies in ovarian cancer cells suggests a coregulatory mechanism for the expressions of Cldn3 and Cldn4 in the ovary. The objective of this study was to characterize the hormonal …

2016 Virginia Wildflower Of The Year: Downy Rattlesnake Plantain, Goodyera Pubescens, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Regardless of season, Downy Rattlesnake Plantain is a delight to encounter in the woods of Virginia. This evergreen orchid is a perennial rhizomatous herb of the forest floor. The horizontal rhizomes, usually covered lightly by leaf litter, bear roots at intervals and terminate in a rosette of leaves. Leaves are alternate, somewhat crowded together, and only slightly elevated above ground level. Leaf blades are ovate, 3–8 cm long, and 1.5–3 cm wide, often of varying size within a rosette. Leaves are present year-round, bluish-green, with prominent white veins; on each leaf, a broad midvein is flanked by two smaller veins …

Lack Of Neocortex Does Not Imply Fish Cannot Feel Pain, Georg Striedter

Animal Sentience

Some contemporary scientists are using comparative neurobiological data to argue that non-mammalian vertebrates have feelings, most notably of pain (e.g., Braithwaite, 2010; Mashour and Alkire, 2012), while Key (2016) uses the same general data to reach the opposite conclusion. In a nutshell, he argues that fish cannot feel pain because fish don’t have a neocortex, which humans need to consciously experience pain. I don’t know how these scientists can look at essentially the same data and reach such disparate conclusions, but I suspect that some of them have strong a priori beliefs and, therefore, view the data through differently tinted …

Fish Lack The Brains And The Psychology For Pain, Stuart W.G. Derbyshire

Animal Sentience

Debate about the possibility of fish pain focuses largely on the fish’s lack of the cortex considered necessary for generating pain. That view is appealing because it avoids relatively abstract debate about the nature of pain experience and subjectivity. Unfortunately, however, that debate cannot be entirely avoided. Subcortical circuits in the fish might support an immediate, raw, “pain” experience. The necessity of the cortex only becomes obvious when considering pain as an explicitly felt subjective experience. Attributing pain to fish only seems absurd when pain is considered as a state of explicit knowing.

Pain And Other Feelings In Humans And Animals, Antonio Damasio, Hanna Damasio

Animal Sentience

Evidence from neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuropsychology suggests that the experience of feelings in humans does not depend exclusively on structures of the cerebral cortex. It does not seem warranted to deny the possibility of feeling in animals on the grounds that their cerebral cortices are not comparable to those of humans.

Home Range Creation And Analysis Using Geospatial Modeling Environment And Arcgis Software, Alexandra Locher, Matt Lindenberg

Open Textbooks

Many analyses in natural resources or ecology-related fields, specifically wildlife-focused disciplines, investigate wildlife habitat use and movement patterns for population and habitat management. Kernel density estimates and home range analysis are commonly used by wildlife biologists for such investigations. Methods to conduct home range analyses are often complex and require use of multiple software programs. In the literature and on the web, it is difficult to find comprehensive instructions on how to create home ranges and proceed with analyses. The purpose of this manual is to describe the process of synthesizing raw location point location data, creating home ranges (kernel …

Synthesis, Characterisation And Evaluation Of Novel Antibacterial Agents, Alessandra Ghion, Christine O’Connor

Other resources

No abstract provided.

The Material Forms Of Memory: A Creative Arts Praxis Examining Family Archive Materiality And The Performance Of Memory Through Installation Art, Emily M. M. Hornum

Theses

This Master of Arts by Research investigates the role of new media in influencing familyarchive materiality and what effect this has on the performance of memory. The aim is to examine through creative arts praxis how installation art illuminates the participatory engagement of family archive materiality to mediate our mnemonic processes. The source materials for this project stem from my family archives dating from the early 1900s to 2013, and include photographs, 35mm slides, VHS tapes, audiotapes and personal items. The significance of this research lies in the creative outcomes that have occurred through the investigative and critical dialogues between …

Job Stress, Inflammation, And Atherosclerosis: A Reflection, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Stress in general has been associated with inflammation and atherosclerosis (Sapolsky, 2004; Slavich and Irwin, 2014). The accumulation of inadequately controlled studies has become a concern (Bianchi, 2016; Schonfeld & Bianchi, 2016). Stronger efforts should be made to take into account both empirically identified and theoretically likely confounders in this research field. Assessing the contribution of job-related factors to given outcomes without simultaneously considering the role of relevant non-job factors is unwarranted. Results from inadequately controlled studies can lead to our making ineffective, or even counter-productive, decisions in terms of public health policies.

Who’S Afraid Of Response Bias?, Megan A. K. Peters, Tony Ro, Hakwan Lau

Publications and Research

Response bias (or criterion) contamination is insidious in studies of consciousness: that observers report they do not see a stimulus may not mean they have absolutely no subjective experience; they may be giving such reports in relative terms in the context of other stimuli. Bias-free signal detection theoretic measures provide an excellent method for avoiding response bias confounds, and many researchers correctly adopt this approach. However, here we discuss how a fixation on avoiding criterion effects can also be misleading and detrimental to fruitful inquiry. In a recent paper, Balsdon and Azzopardi (Absolute and relative blindsight. Consciousness and Cognition 2015; …

Preserving Your Right To Parent: The Supreme Court Of North Carolina Addresses The Unmarried Fathers' Due Process Rights In In Re Adoption Of S.D.W., Erin E. Gibbs

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vegetation Influences Microbial Community Structure And Methane Emissions In Southeastern Louisiana Wetlands, Anthony Jason Rietl

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Methane has a warming potential 28 times that of carbon dioxide and has been increasing in the Earth’s atmosphere since 1750. An understanding of the dynamics of methane emissions from natural sources is becoming increasingly important as we may need to mitigate emissions from these sources in the future to help reduce the effects of climate change. Wetlands are the single largest natural source of methane; however, little attention has been given to how plant species, biota, and interactions between above and belowground communities and microbial communities may affect methane emissions. First, microbial community structure and function was assessed for …

To Accommodate Or Not To Accommodate: (When) Should The State Regulate Religion To Protect The Rights Of Children And Third Parties?, Hillel Y. Levin, Allan J. Jacobs, Kavita Arora

Scholarly Works

When should we accommodate religious practices? When should we demand that religious groups instead conform to social and legal norms? Who should make these decisions, and how? These questions lie at the very heart of our contemporary debates in the field of Law and Religion.

Particularly thorny issues arise where religious practices may impose health-related harm to children within a religious group or to third parties. Unfortunately, legislators, scholars, courts, ethicists, and medical practitioners have not offered a consistent way to analyze such cases and the law is inconsistent. This Article suggests that the lack of consistency is a troubling …

The Use Of Neuroscience Evidence In Criminal Proceedings, John B. Meixner Jr.

Scholarly Works

While law and neuroscience has been an increasingly popular topic in academic discourse, until now, little systematic research had examined how neuroscience evidence has actually been used in court. Do courts actually admit and consider evidence of brain trauma that might indicate that an individual did not have the capacity to achieve the mental state required for conviction of particular crime? Do they use such evidence to consider the relative culpability for the crime in the event of conviction? Do they consider or understand brain scan data? For much of the life of this infant field, we have only been …

Broadly Neutralizing Human Antibodies Inhibit Dengue Virus Infection In Aedes Mosquitoes, Colette Jolynn Matysiak

Public Health Theses

Introduction

Dengue virus is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among mosquito-borne viruses globally. There are four Dengue serotypes; immunity to one serotype provides protective immunity to that serotype but increases the risk of severe disease upon infection with a second serotype. Dengue virus, like all Flaviviruses, utilizes class II fusion proteins to gain entry into the host cytoplasm. The fusion loop, which is responsible for viral-host fusion, lies within the envelope (E) glycoprotein and has nearly 100% amino acid identity among all Flaviviruses. Two anti-Dengue virus human monoclonal antibodies (hMAbs), 1.6D and D11C, were isolated from Dengue infected …

Hcv And Drug Transition In Ct Nonurban Injection Drug Users, Maria Ma

Public Health Theses

Aims: We sought to determine if age of first substance initiation (alcohol intoxication, marijuana use, pharmaceutical opioid use, polysubstance) was associated with faster rates of transition to injection drug use or heroin use. Subsequently, we examined if transition time was a predictor for hepatitis C infection.

Methods: From 2008-2012, 462 active injection drug users were recruited using respondent-driven sampling. Participants were interviewed about their injection-associated risk, and serological testing of HIV, HCV and HBV was performed. Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to examine the rate of transition from first substance event to initiation of heroin use or first injection. A Cox …

Conflict-Affected Youth Livelihoods Programming: Bridging The Gap Between Research & Practice, Chanel M. Marin

Public Health Theses

The current thesis project consists of a programmatic mapping of existing policy and programming related to conflict-affected youth livelihoods and a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) of the literature to identify the evidence base for effective interventions. The programmatic mapping identified key actors in the field and existing policy and programming, revealing a need for: data regarding evidence-based interventions; demand-driven intervention strategies; cross-sectoral partnerships providing holistic programming approaches; increased outreach to vulnerable sub-populations; and increased youth participation in program design, implementation, management, and evaluation. The REA revealed a severe shortage of evidence-based practice in this area, but sheds light on the …

Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Glossina Pallidipes In Nguruman National Park (Kenya)., Michael Frederic Mengual

Public Health Theses

Abstract:

Background: Glossina pallidipes is a significant vector of trypanosomiasis for humans and livestock across Sub-Saharan Africa. Nguruman national park in Kenya is regarded as a potential location for targeted vector control activity. We screened flies from three locations in Nguruman in 2003, 2009, and 2015 using 13 microsatellite loci to assess population structures of G. pallidipes.

Methods: We acquired Tsetse samples from three sites across Nguruman in Kenya at three time points. We then performed genetic analyses on 267 flies using 13 microsatellite loci and evaluated genetic structure of Tsetses across a geographic distance of about 22 km and …

Exposure To Pesticides And Food Packaging Materials And Bmi In Samoan Mothers And Children, Jennifer Park

Public Health Theses

Background: Growing evidence suggests that environmental chemicals, including certain pesticides and bisphenol A (BPA), may be linked to obesity because of their ability to disrupt metabolic functions. Methods: We conducted a community-based, cross-sectional survey of 319 non-pregnant mothers, ≥18 years old, with a child aged 2-Samoa, a country with high obesity prevalence, understudied agricultural and residential pesticide use and BPA consumption from canned and packaged goods. We measured weight and height of the mother-child pair and interviewed mothers about their potential environmental exposures. Using multivariable logistic regression, we evaluated the association between pesticide and BPA exposure surrogates and weight status. …

“You Want To Go Home”: Search For Home Among Young Trans Women Of Color, Rebecca Suzanne Pepe

Public Health Theses

A wealth of literature explains the existence of barriers to accessible housing for the trans community. However, none have elucidated the story of how young trans women manage and navigate these barriers as they experience finding not only a housing structure, but also a place to call home. The aim of this work is to describe the experience finding home for a group of young, trans, women of color. This is done via qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews of 17 trans women associated with the Ruth Ellis Center in Detroit, Michigan. Utilizing a grounded theory approach and coding with Dedoose …

Patterns Of Drug Use And Correlates Of Active Amphetamine-Type Substance Use Among Sex Workers In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Courtney Jo Pedersen

Public Health Theses

Objective: To describe the female and transgender sex worker population in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, understand their patterns of substance use, and examine the correlates of active amphetamine-type substance (ATS) use.

Methods: We administered a cross-sectional survey and performed biological testing on 492 sex workers to assess lifetime and active substance use history and frequency, criminal justice involvement, alcohol and substance abuse disorders, sexual risk behaviors, experience of childhood and adulthood physical and sexual abuse, depression, and prevalence of HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. We performed descriptive statistics to describe demographics and lifetime and active drug use patterns and employed bivariate …

Evaluating Substance Use In A Network Of Emerging Adult Males Via Analysis Of Text Messages Sent And Received, Lia Pizzicato

Public Health Theses

Introduction: With the ubiquity of mobile phones, mobile health (mHealth) has the ability to transform healthcare specifically in regard to substance use interventions. Current mHealth interventions targeting substance use are limited as they require self-monitoring and user input.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine if text message content can predict substance use attitudes and behaviors. The aims were three-fold: (1) To assess the prevalence of discussion of substance use in text messages (2) To evaluate the relationship between text message content and substance use attitudes and behaviors; and (3) To examine social network structure using texting interactions …

Likelihood Of Achieving Who Leprosy Goals: An Expert Survey, Alex Rittel

Public Health Theses

Much progress has been made in the global fight against leprosy, as evidenced by dramatic declines in prevalence rates in recent years. However, leprosy has proven elusive. New case detection rates have remained fairly stable, particularly in countries with remaining pockets of high endemicity such as India, Brazil, and Indonesia. In 2012, the World Health Organization spearheaded the London Declaration, which in part aimed for the goal of interruption of transmission of global leprosy by 2020. Aggregating the opinions of experts can supplement existing data to help determine the feasibility of reaching the WHO goals. To obtain the opinions of …

Time In Ghana And Dietary Patterns In Liberian Refugees, Wilhelmenia Lee Ross

Public Health Theses

Previous research suggests acculturation (i.e. exposure and assimilation to local culture) is associated with changes in dietary patterns among immigrants. This study investigates this association in a refugee population using time in refugee settlement as a proxy for acculturation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample to: (i) identify dietary patterns in Liberian refugees and Ghanaians living in or near a refugee settlement; (ii) compare adherence to these dietary patterns between groups; and (iii) investigate the association between acculturation and dietary patterns in Liberian refugees. Time in refugee settlement was assessed by self-report; food consumption was assessed by …

Determinants Of Perceived Insufficient Milk And The Infant Feeding Practices Of New Mothers In León, Nicaragua, Cara Safon

Public Health Theses

Breastfeeding has been shown to improve maternal and child health. In Nicaragua, the primary risk of death and disability-adjusted life years among children under 5 years of age is suboptimal breastfeeding. Although the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health promotes exclusive breastfeeding from within the first half hour through the first 6 months of life, less than a third of children in the country under 6 months are exclusively breastfed. As part of a larger, mixed-methods study, 21 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with new mothers recruited from 3 primary health centers between June and August 2015 in order to identify the …