Digital Commons Network^™

Cultivating Community Interactions In Citizen Science: Connecting People To Each Other And The Environment, Bret Allen Finley

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Citizen science leverages a distributed user-base which participates in crowd-sourced scientific inquiry. Geotagger is a citizen science project that allows people to collaboratively investigate the natural world around them and share their findings. Citizens are rarely compensated for their work and individual contributors can feel isolated which leads to motivation problems. This thesis focuses on engaging citizen scientists and motivating their contributions via social interaction and engagement. As a part of this work, a number of social enhancements have been developed as extensions to the existing Geotagger project. These enhancements and their effect on social engagement were evaluated using in-field …

Oral Creatine Hydrochloride Supplementation: Acute Effects On Submaximal, Intermittent Bouts Of Bench Press And Vertical Jump Exercises, Daniel Mcdonough

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the acute effects of oral creatine hydrochloride (CrHCl) supplementation on three repeated bouts of bench press and vertical jumping exercises and body composition measures (body weight (BW), fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM)). Methods: Fifteen resistance trained males completed 3 sets of the barbell bench press (70% 1RM) and 3 sets of the repeated counter-movement vertical jump (CMJ; 85% maximal CMJ height), with 2 min rest between sets, before and after a 7 d CrHCl intervention (4 g·day^-1). A two-factor repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine significant main …

Impacts Of Anthropogenic Noise On Litter Chemistry And Decomposition Processes In A Semi-Arid Ecosystem, Peggy Martinez

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Chronic anthropogenic noise in ecosystems can change avian/arthropod/plant interactions, but it is unclear how changes in herbivory pressure affects functional traits of plants. We asked how anthropogenic noise, mediated through changes in arthropod abundance, altered timing of leaf senesce, chemical composition (i.e. C/N ratios, total phenolics) and decomposition rates of leaf litter in Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata spp. wyo.). Additionally, we asked if changes in arthropod abundance altered secondary metabolites (i.e. monoterpenes) in foliage. We broadcasted recorded gas compressor station noise (24hrs/day) from April through October 2015 in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem of Idaho, USA. We quantified …

Utah 4-H, County Contests, Joshua Dallin, Kelsey W. Romney

All Current Publications

This manual gives information for conducting succesdsful county contests.

Laying The Foundation For A Fremont Phytolith Typology Using Select Plant Species Native To Utah County, Madison Natasha Pearce

Theses and Dissertations

Archaeobotanical evidences for the presence of wild plants at Fremont archaeological sites are numerous. However, little can be positively argued for why those plants are present, if they were used by site inhabitants, and how they were used. Additionally, there are likely several wild plants that were used but that do not appear in the archaeobotanical record as pollen or macrobotanicals, the two most commonly identified plant remains. I argue that it is possible to provide better interpretations for how and why the Fremont used plants by researching how their historic counterparts, the Goshute, Shoshone, Ute, and Southern Paiute, used …

Acute Salivary Steroid Hormone Responses During Coalitional And Dyadic Competitions In Hong Kong Juvenile Children, Timothy Mchale

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A large body of research links testosterone and cortisol responses to competition during adulthood. Little psychoneuroendocrine research has explored salivary steroid hormone responses to competition during middle childhood. This project investigated the relationship between acute salivary steroid hormone change, performance, competitor type, and outcome effects in three different field studies, while controlling for Body Mass Index (BMI) and pubertal development, in a population of ethnically Chinese, Hong Kong juvenile children, 8-11 years of age. The relative dynamics of salivary steroid change were assessed during a 1) coalitional physical competition (soccer) in boys, 2) a non-physical mixed-sex coalitional competition (math contest), …

The Effects Of Distributed Trials On Behaviors Of Students With Significant Disability, Mona Nasir-Tucktuck

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teaching academic instruction to students with significant cognitive disability (SCD) has been done with success over the past years (Browder, Mims, Spooner, Ahlgrim-Delzell, & Lee, 2008; Hudson & Test, 2011; Mims, Hudson, & Browder, 2012), However, research is scarce and further instructional strategies are needed to help align the standard-based curriculum for this population of students (Browder, Ahlgrim-Delzell, Flowers, & Baker, 2012).

The academic inclusion of students with SCD has been a topic of interest for researchers over the past few decades. In 1997, research on teaching academics to students with SCD was scarce (Nietupski, Hamre-Nietupski, Curtin, Shrikanth, 1997). The …

Setting The Childless Free: An Ethnographic Study Of The Practice Of The Childfree Identity, Shelly Volsche

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Heeding Sherry Ortner’s call to turn anthropological analysis inward, toward one’s own culture, the following dissertation seeks to understand the identity and practice of the voluntarily childless (hereafter “childfree”) movement in the United States. How do these individuals practice their identity, and how does the identity of “childfree” interact with other roles in their lives? How do they build meaning in a society that emphasizes children as a hallmark of adulthood? What other outlets do childfree individuals have for the “nurturing” tendencies of our species?

Combining sociohistoric analysis with identity and feminist theories, I embarked on nearly two years of …

Gastrin Induces Nuclear Export And Proteasomal Degradation Of Menin In Enteric Glial Cells, Sinju Sundaresan, Cameron A. Meininger, Anthony J. Kang, Amanda L. Photenhauer, Michael M. Hayes, Nirakar Sahoo, Jolanda Lindenberg, Jolanta Grembecka, Tomasz Cierpicki, Lin Ding

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Background & aims: The multiple endocrine neoplasia, type 1 (MEN1) locus encodes the nuclear protein and tumor suppressor menin. MEN1 mutations frequently cause neuroendocrine tumors such as gastrinomas, characterized by their predominant duodenal location and local metastasis at time of diagnosis. Diffuse gastrin cell hyperplasia precedes the appearance of MEN1 gastrinomas, which develop within submucosal Brunner's glands. We investigated how menin regulates expression of the gastrin gene and induces generation of submucosal gastrin-expressing cell hyperplasia.

Methods: Primary enteric glial cultures were generated from the VillinCre:Men1FL/FL:Sst-/- mice or C57BL/6 mice (controls), with or without inhibition of gastric acid by omeprazole. Primary …

Morganella Morganii (Enterobacteriales: Enterobacteriaceae) Is A Lethal Pathogen Of Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Larvae, Bacilio Salas, Hugh E. Conway, Erin Schuenzel, Kristen Hopperstad, Christopher Vitek, Don C. Vacek

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Tephritid pests, such as the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), represent a major threat to fruit production worldwide. In order to control these pests, sterile insect technique is used to suppress and eradicate wild populations. For this control method to be successful, hundreds of millions of flies must be produced weekly in mass rearing facilities. The large quantity of artificial diet and close proximity of flies at various life stages allows bacteria from family Enterobacteriaceae, Bacillaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, and others to multiply and spread more easily. In this study, bacteria with a possible pathogenic effect were isolated from Mexican fruit …

Two-Week Test-Retest Reliability Of The Scale Of Accurate Personality Prediction, Lisa Dawn Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

The Scale of Accurate Personality Prediction (SAPP) is a measure derived from the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF Fifth Edition) with the objective of assessing one’s level of self-knowledge. The SAPP measures self-knowledge by appraising the extent to which individuals are able to accurately predict their personality traits. Previous research on the SAPP has provided support for its construct validation. The present study served as a replication of prior reliability studies to further assess the SAPP’s temporal stability. Test-retest reliability data of the SAPP was obtained by comparing SAPP scores from 34 individuals across two testing sessions that were two …

A Mixed-Reality Approach For Cyber-Situation Awareness, Tapas Dipakkumar Joshi

Theses and Dissertations

As the proliferation and adoption of smart devices increase, there is an unprecedented amount of data being released into the network every second. Computer networks are the carriers for the movement of this ever generating amounts of data, but are dumb in a way that they do not distinguish between suspicious data traffic and valid data traffic. Also, for however secure a computer network be, suspicious network traffic activities are bound to happen. These suspicious traffic activities have to be detected, analyzed and stopped before it compromises the entire network and leaves the information and data security of an organization …

A Context-Free Method Of Visualizing Streaming Object Data For The Purpose Of Identifying Known Events: An Implementation And Analysis, Quinn Gregory Carver

Theses and Dissertations

This year, every second, five gigabytes of new data will be streamed to storage and yet less than half a percent of all this data will ever be analyzed. Much of this muted data is high-variety object data, unnoticed in a void of sorely needed tools to make it readily understandable. A software tool for visualizing streaming object data in a context-free manner can be built, and this tool would aid in finding predictor data for known events which are functions of the data. The design of the tool to support the hypothesis is presented and field results from over …

Mining Location And User Information From Users’ Trajectories, Marcello Tomasini

Theses and Dissertations

The understanding of human mobility is integral to the advancement of many fields including public health, city planning, economic forecasting, and it attracts the interest of researchers from a broad number of fields. The work of such researchers would not have been possible without the availability of large localized datasets such as mobile phone Call Detail Records (CDRs) provided by telco operators and Location Based Social Networks (LBSNs) check-ins provided by popular applications such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. However, such datasets are often incomplete, anonymized, and/or inaccurate. Hence there is a need to partially reconstruct or extract more information …

Youth Focus Groups: Design And Analysis Plan For The Bears Project, M. Renee Beacom Claborn

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

This capstone project produced a qualitative research design and analysis plan for youth focus groups as part of a Quality Improvement project at OneWorld Community Health Center (OWCHC) School-Based Health Center (SBHC) located at Bryan High School (BHS) in a program called BEARS. The intended use of this project is to serve as a reference guide for BEARS program planners to utilize as part of the data collection and analysis processes. The purpose for collecting qualitative data for this project is three-fold. 1. To explore adolescents’ perspectives of risk behaviors and associated health determinants common to their age group 2. …

Habituation And Dishabituation In The Olfactory Bulb: From Neural Responses To Behavior, Mary Cameron Ogg

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Habituation and dishabituation modulate the neural resources and behavioral significance allocated to incoming stimuli across the sensory systems. The purpose of the research presented in this dissertation was to characterize these processes in the mouse olfactory bulb (OB) and to determine if OB acetylcholine (ACh) has a role in physiological and behavioral olfactory dishabituation. Calcium imaging was used to determine the timecourse and magnitude of habituation in different parts of the OB during and after a prolonged odor presentation. Widefield imaging of the dendritic, or glomerular, response of OB output cells demonstrated that prolonged odor input habituates glomerular responses during …

Assessing Neuronal Synchrony And Brain Function Through Local Field Potential And Spike Analysis, Samuel Stuart Mcafee

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Studies of neuronal network oscillations and rhythmic neuronal synchronization have led to a number of important insights in recent years, giving us a better understanding of the temporal organization of neuronal activity related to essential brain functions like sensory processing and cognition. Important principles and theories have emerged from these findings, including the communication through coherence hypothesis, which proposes that synchronous oscillations render neuronal communication effective, selective, and precise. The implications of such a theory may be universal for brain function, as the determinants of neuronal communication inextricably shape the neuronal representation of information in the brain. However, the study …

Revealing A Non-Canonical Role Of Anti-Apoptotic Mcl-1 In Early Embryonic Development, Xue Yang

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

MCL-1, a well-known pro-survival BCL-2 family member, is indispensable for the survival of various cellular lineages and is also among the most frequently amplified genes in a variety of human malignancies. Gene ablation studies previously revealed that Mcl-1 deficiency leads to embryonic lethality around E3.5 during peri-implantation stage. Strikingly, the study did not detect any increase in apoptotic cells of the blastocyst, indicating a function of MCL-1 beyond regulating apoptosis. Our previous studies revealed an unrecognized role of MCL-1 in promoting mitochondrial physiology, which is independent of its classical anti-apoptotic function and requires being imported into the mitochondrial matrix. In …

Pitx3null Mutant (Striatal Dopamine-Deficient) Mice Have Exaggerated Spiny Projection Neuron Responses To L-Dopa And D1 Agonism And Lack Baseline Striatonigral Spiking, Ben Sagot

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

L-3,4 dihidroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) strongly stimulates motor activity in parkinsonian patients and animal models of Parkinson's disease. Severe striatal dopamine (DA) loss characterizes Parkinson's disease and its animal models. Given the canonical rate model of Parkinson's Disease pathophysiology based on differences in DA pharmacology manifesting as electrophysiological differences in striatal projection neuron (SPN) spike rates, SPNs should increase spiking during the motor response to l-DOPA. In fact, stimulating specific subsets of these neurons to spike in freely-moving wild type and parkinsonian animals causes or inhibits motor activity as predicted. However, pharmacological effects of DA deficiency, let alone those of DA replacement, …

Effects Of Spatial Ability And Three-Dimensional Interactive Computer-Assisted Instruction On Functional Anatomy Learning, Kelly Michael Moore

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of spatial ability (SA) and three-dimensional (3D) interactive Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on college student academic achievement (ACH). The study was a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, control group mixed methods design. Participants were assessed for spatial ability via the Revised Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Visualization of Rotations (Revised PSVT:R), Yoon (2011). Participants were instructed to identify, locate and visualize human skeletal muscles and muscle actions. During laboratory sessions, control groups studied plastic anatomical 3D models and experiment groups utilized 3D interactive CAI. ACH was measured by the Human Skeletal Muscle Assessment (HSMA) difference …

Study Of Self-Similarity In Brain Data, Jennifer Holst

Student Theses

In the area of computer science, past research has found that the concept of self-similarity is present in local and Internet-based network traffic. This study considers the possibility that data traveling through the neuronal network in the human brain is also self-similar. By analyzing publicly available raw EEG data and estimating its Hurst parameter, we find indications that brain data traffic may in fact be self-similar.

Novel Duplication Mutation Of The Dysf Gene In A Pakistani Family With Miyoshi Myopathy, Muhammad I. Ullah, Arsalan Ahmad, Milena Žarković, Syed S. Shah, Abdul Nasir, Saqib Mahmood, Wasim Ahmad, Christian A. Hübner, Muhammad J. Hassan

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To identify the underlying gene mutation in a large consanguineous Pakistani family. Methods: This is an observational descriptive study carried out at the Department of Biochemistry, Shifa International Hospital, Quaid-i-Azam University, and Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan from 2013-2016. Genomic DNA of all recruited family members was extracted and the Trusight one sequencing panel was used to assess genes associated with a neuro-muscular phenotype. Comparative modeling of mutated and wild-type protein was carried out by PyMOL tool. Results: Clinical investigations of an affected individual showed typical features of Miyoshi myopathy (MM) …

Examining Movement Dynamics Of The Gulf Menhaden Fishery Using An Individual-Based Model, Robert D. Trigg Iii

Master's Theses

This study investigates the movement and harvest dynamics of the Gulf Menhaden Brevoortia patronus fishery. The fishery-dependent data collected by NOAA (years 2006-2009 and 2011) describe vessel-specific information on catch locations (latitude and longitude) and magnitude of harvest in metric tons (mt). A series of probability distribution functions (PDFs) were fit to the frequency distributions of number of harvests per day (Poisson), between-harvest distances (gamma), and harvest magnitude (log-normal). These analyses were used to inform an individual-based model (IBM). The IBM was run under several different spatial restriction regimes, including (1) current regulations in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama; (2) …

Combined Effects Of Dissolved Oxygen And Temperature On Aerobic Respiration And Respiratory Recovery Responses Of The Spioniform Polychaete, Streblospio Gynobranchiata, In Relation To Body Size, Alyssa Bennett

Master's Theses

Elevated surface temperatures exacerbate the threat of hypoxia within coastal ecosystems. These two primary stressors likely interact as they elicit opposing physiological responses from marine organisms. Metabolic depression is typically associated with hypoxia, while metabolic rates increase with temperature. Moreover, physiological effects of combined stressors may not be additive. In light of increasing pressures from hypoxia, elevated ocean temperatures, and other stressors within coastal regions, studies need to examine effects of multiple stressors on physiology of coastal organisms.

Mass-specific aerobic respiration (V_O2) was characterized as a proxy for metabolic cost of Streblospio gynobranchiata, at combined levels of …

Faith And Reason In The Pursuit Of Understanding, Emily Jarvis

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

No abstract provided.

Childhood Animal Cruelty Motives And Their Relationship To Recurrent Adult Interpersonal Crimes, Joseph Ketron

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Although research investigating the link between childhood animal cruelty and adult interpersonal violence dates back to the early 1960s, few scholars have examined the predictive ability of childhood animal cruelty motives and their relationship to later violence toward humans. Based on a sample of 257 male inmates, the present study examines the relationship between four retrospectively identified motives for childhood animal cruelty and later adult interpersonal violence. Almost half of the inmates reported engaging in childhood animal cruelty for fun. Over one-third of the respondents reported committing acts of childhood animal cruelty out of anger. Approximately 20% of the inmates …

Post-Fledging Habitat Use And Movements Of Worm-Eating Warblers In The Tennessee River Gorge, Holland Youngman

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Declines in Neotropical migratory birds have been observed over the past several decades. Species with particular habitat needs, termed ‘specialists’, are especially at risk given continual habitat loss. These downward trends have prompted researchers to investigate species’ life histories and associated habitats to better understand the necessary components for successful life stages. The Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum; WEWA) is an interior specialist with little known regarding its post-fledging habitat needs. I used harness-attached radio transmitters to track fledgling WEWAs in the Tennessee River Gorge to study habitat components and daily movements. Results between fledgling location and random points indicate that …

Effects Of Predation Risk And Temperature On Foraging Behaviour Of Littorina Littorea, Sarah Curtin

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Predator-prey interactions are a fundamental feature of ecological communities. The majority of studies have focussed on the consequences of predators reducing the abundance of their prey through direct consumption (density-mediated interaction, DMIs). However, predators can also interact with prey by inducing costly behavioural and/or physiological defence strategies such as reduced foraging, anti-predator behaviour and investment in defensive structures. Evidence suggests that the cost of these phenotypic responses, termed trait-mediated interactions (TMIs), may be greater than that of DMIs. The strength of TMIs may depend on the environmental context in which prey must decide between food and safety. Because temperature can …

Toll-Like Receptor 7: Expression Patterns Within Mammalian Trigeminal And Dorsal Root Ganglia And Its Selected Facial Innervation Target, The Tongue, Sara Kawamura

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are known to be expressed in the mammalian nervous system where they play an important role in the hosts’ immune defence against bacterial and viral pathogens. Recent studies have looked into the expression of a wide range of TLRs in various neuronal sub-populations of the central and peripheral nervous systems. However, the co-expression of TLRs within the sub-populations of neurons as well as the expression of TLRs in the terminals of various innervation targets are yet to be understood. In this study, Immunohistochemistry was used to quantify the expression of TLR7 with known neurochemical markers in two …

The Long Term Effects Of Social Deprivation On Black-Capped Capuchins (Sapajus Apella) Rescued From The Primate Pet Trade, Kate Bee

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Captivity is often physically and psychologically damaging to primates, who have complex ethological and social needs. It is widely agreed that primates do not make suitable domestic pets, however it is still legal to keep some species of primates as pets in the UK.The effects of the exotic pet trade on primate welfare are poorly documented. It is extremely likely that it will be detrimental towards their physical and mental health, especially when kept in isolation from other primates, but there is little evidence to show the long-term implications of social deprivation.This study observed the long term-effects of social isolation …