Digital Commons Network^™

Realizing The Potential Of Cancer Prevention - The Role Of Implementation Science, Karen M. Emmons, Graham A. Colditz

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Early Diagnosis And Intervention For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder In New York State, Grace Ester Caroline Korompis

Health Policy, Management & Behavior Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), analyzed the trends, assessed children’s sociodemographic characteristics and examined timing of ASD diagnosis among children who enrolled in the New York State Early Intervention Program (NYSEIP).

Secondary data from the New York State Early Intervention data systems were used. The systems include NYEIS (New York State Early Intervention System), a centralized web-based system that electronically manages the NYSEIP administrative tasks and was designed to support the NYSEIP's services, and the legacy data system: KIDS (Kids Integrated Data System). The time-trend design employed in this study was a form of longitudinal …

Impact Of Foreign Born East Asian Density On Liver Cancer Incidence Rate Among Neighborhoods In New York City During 2009-2013 : Multilevel Analysis, Sangwon Lee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Objective: To investigate the impact of the density of foreign born Asian population on geographical incidence rate of liver cancer in New York City during 2009 – 2013 in order to find specific geographic areas in NYC where liver cancer intervention should be targeted.

Early Diagnosis And Intervention For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder In New York State, Grace Esther Caroline Korompis

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study examined the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), analyzed the trends, assessed children’s sociodemographic characteristics and examined timing of ASD diagnosis among children who enrolled in the New York State Early Intervention Program (NYSEIP).

Species Diversity And Community Structure Of Zooplankton In Threedifferent Types Of Water Body Within The Sakarya River Basin, Turkey, Pinar Gürbüzer, Özge Buyurgan, Çağri Tekatli, Ahmet Altindağ

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The aim of this study was to identify differences between different types of water body within the same river basin by comparing the composition of the zooplankton community. The study was conducted in three types of water body in the Sakarya Basin in northwestern Turkey: an alluvial barrier lake (Lake Poyrazlar), a pond (Sorgun Pond), and a reservoir (Çubuk II Reservoir). The spatiotemporal changes of these three types of aquatic habitats were investigated in terms of the zooplankton organisms by examining their diversity, evenness, and differences in the abundance of species. A total of 81 species were identified. Thirty-eight species …

Food Patch Particularity And Forging Strategy Of Reintroduced Przewalski's Horse In North Xinjiang, China, Zang Sen, Cao Qing, Alimujiang Keremu, Liu Shanhui, Zhang Yongjun, Hu Defu

Turkish Journal of Zoology

In 2001, Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) was reintroduced into a Eurasian desert-steppe transitional area in China. Recent studies of Przewalski's horse have not examined the relationship between food patches and the horse's feeding choice behavior. This study aimed to study the vegetation communities of the reintroduction area and combine this information with feeding time data to explore the foraging strategy of Przewalski's horse. A total of 588 vegetation patches were surveyed, which were divided into 27 vegetation clusters. All vegetation clusters could be divided into feeding clusters, which constituted 59.23% of the study area, and nonforaging clusters, which constituted 11.14%. …

Balancing Stability And Flexibility In Adaptive Governance: An Analysis Of Tools Available In U.S. Environmental Law, Robin Kundis Craig, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold, Hannah E. Birge, Daniel A. Decaro, Alexander K. Fremier, Hannah Gosnell, Edella Schlager

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Adaptive governance must work “on the ground,” that is, it must operate through structures and procedures that the people it governs perceive to be legitimate and fair, as well as incorporating processes and substantive goals that are effective in allowing social-ecological systems (SESs) to adapt to climate change and other impacts. To address the continuing and accelerating alterations that climate change is bringing to SESs, adaptive governance generally will require more flexibility than prior governance institutions have often allowed. However, to function as good governance, adaptive governance must pay real attention to the problem of how to balance this increased …

A Bayesian Method For Assessing Multi-Scale Species-Habitat Relationships, Erica F. Stuber, Lutz F. Gruber, Joseph J. Fontaine

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Context Scientists face several theoretical and methodological challenges in appropriately describing fundamental wildlife-habitat relationships in models. The spatial scales of habitat relationships are often unknown, and are expected to follow a multi-scale hierarchy. Typical frequentist or information theoretic approaches often suffer under collinearity in multiscale studies, fail to converge when models are complex or represent an intractable computational burden when candidate model sets are large.

Objectives Our objective was to implement an automated, Bayesian method for inference on the spatial scales of habitat variables that best predict animal abundance.

Methods We introduce Bayesian latent indicator scale selection (BLISS), a Bayesian …

Simultaneous Measurements Of Soil Moisture And Streamflow In Small Catchments Reveal Varied Coupling Across Sites, Seasons, And Timescales, Brian Timothy Godbois

Master's Theses and Capstones

Soil moisture is an important component in the interaction of terrestrial and aquatic systems, as it may play a role in regulating streamflow and the delivery of nutrients from soils to streams. There are few studies that collect in situ soil moisture and stream discharge data simultaneously at the same location across different land uses at a fine enough temporal resolution to understand processes at sub-daily timescales. I examined the relationship between soil moisture and streamflow over varying timescales using concurrent, high temporal frequency (one hour) in situ measurements of soil volumetric water content and stream discharge at five headwater …

Local Health Department Adoption Of Health Information Technology And Its Impact On Population Health, Tina Yeung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the enactment of the HITECH Act in 2009, the US has invested billions in building a robust health information technology (HIT) infrastructure that is secure, capable of the electronic transfer of data and allows for real-time access of patient medical data, among others. This empirical study explored the driving forces (coercive, mimetic, and normative) in the adoption of HIT (i.e. EHRs and HIEs) by local health departments (LHDs) and how it has impacted the population health of counties in the US. The researcher conducted a cross-sectional, quantitative study using secondary data sources. The study included data on 505 local …

University Of Texas At Tyler Course Catalog, 2017 - 2018, University Of Texas At Tyler

Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Taxonomic Position Of Abies Equi-Trojani On The Basis Of Needlecharacters By Comparison With Different Fir Species, Anna Katarzyna Jasinska, Katarzyna Sekiewicz, Tolga Ok, Angel Romo, Adam Boratynski, Krystyna Boratynska

Turkish Journal of Botany

The needles from 25 trees of Abies equi-trojani from Kazdağı (Mount Ida) were compared with those from four populations of A. alba, two of A. cephalonica, and three of each of A. xborisii-regis, A. bornmuelleriana, and A. nordmanniana, each represented by 29-31 individuals. Thirty-nine morphological and anatomical needle characters (26 main and 13 estimated ones) were examined biometrically to verify the systematic position of A. equi-trojani. To evaluate the relationships among taxa, Student's t-test for independent samples, the Mann-Whitney U test, and discrimination and clustering analyses were applied. The differences between taxa were statistically significant for several characters, but the …

Clustering Of Suicide In Brazilian Indigenous Children And Youth: Implications For Interventions, Thomas Lazzarini

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

CLUSTERING OF SUICIDE IN BRAZILIAN INDIGENOUS CHILDREN AND YOUTH: IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERVENTIONS.

Thomas Lazzarini, Crhistinne Gonçalves, Julio Croda, Albert Ko, Walter Benites, Liliane da Silva, Kristen McLean, Jason Andrews, Daniel Henrique Tsuha, and Robert Rohrbaugh. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to conduct a retrospective cohort study as well as a qualitative study to better understand the current context of suicide among the indigenous population living on the reservations surrounding Dourados, Brazil. Critical questions included: What are the most important suicide risk factors? Which communities have the highest …

Effects Of Hydrologic Connectivity And Land Use On Floodplain Sediment Accumulation At The Savannah River Site, South Carolina, Jeremy E. Eddy

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Floodplains, and the sediment accumulating naturally on them, are important to maintain stream water quality and serve as sinks for organic and inorganic carbon. Newer theories contend that land use and hydrologic connectivity (water-mediated transport of matter, energy, and/or organisms within or between elements of the hydrologic cycle) play important roles in determining sediment accumulation on floodplains. This study hypothesizes that changes in hydrologic connectivity have a greater impact on floodplain sediment accumulation than changes in land use. Nine sediment cores from seven sub-basins were collected from the Savannah River Site (SRS), South Carolina, and processed for grain-size, radionuclide dating …

Exploring Predator-Prey Interactions In Agroecosystems Through Molecular Gut-Content Analysis, Kacie J. Athey

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Generalist predators can contribute to vital ecosystem services by potentially inducing trophic cascades as natural enemies of pests in agroecosystems. As the human population of the world gets larger, we need to produce more food on ever-smaller swaths of available land relying on ecosystem services, in the form of pest control, that may contribute to agricultural sustainability. Teasing apart the exact trophic linkages between predators and prey is a vital first step and essential to uncovering which predators are inducing trophic cascades and should be enhanced through conservation biological control.

Combined with ecological experimentation, the main tool used throughout my …

Diagnostic Prevalence Of Diabetes Among Older Adults In Rural Appalachia, Gabriella Hodges

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

Background

The rural, mountainous Appalachian region continuously has poorer health outcomes than the rest of the United States. This is true for many chronic diseases including diabetes: the 7th leading cause of death in the United States. This study assessed differences in the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes between older adults in rural, Appalachian counties and rural, non- Appalachian counties.

Methods

Data for the year 2013 was extracted from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Public Use Files for Medicare beneficiaries (September 2015), which provides county level prevalence for diabetes as well as several other conditions among Medicare fee-for-service …

An Analysis Of Long-Term Effects Of Climate Change And Socioeconomic Activities On Grassland Productivity Of Inner Mongolia, Siyu Fan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, researchers have recognized the complexity of the interactions between the ecological system and the economic development of human society. However, the complicated relationships overwhelm traditional statistical procedures and require an innovative approach to investigate their dynamics. We proposed this study to provide a unique perspective in analyzing the long-term causal relationships between the grassland productivity, climate change, and socioeconomic development of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) of China. Our attempt began with acquiring remotely sensed satellite imagery, climatic variations, and aggregated annual reports of the socio-economy of the IMAR in vegetation growing seasons for 15 years. The …

Dam Removal In The Usa: Effects On River Water Quality, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Dam removal decisions should ideally be made after a thorough cost-benefit analysis. If dam obsolescence, structural safety, harm to fisheries, maintenance costs, and reservoir eutrophication are among the primary concerns, decommissioning would likely be favored. On the other hand, dams provide considerable benefits including water storage for agricultural and urban consumption, renewable electricity generation, support of navigational canal systems, flood control, and lakes for recreation. Because of these competing factors and interests, dam removal decision-making in the United States is often a slow process fraught with controversy, as in the case of the Klamath River.

Dams provided mechanical water power …

Good Vibrations: A Novel Method For Sexing Turtles, Donald T. Mcknight, Hunter J. Howell, Ethan C. Hollender, Day B. Ligon

College of Natural and Applied Sciences

The ability to accurately determine the sex of individuals is important for research and conservation efforts. While most species of turtle exhibit secondary sexual dimorphisms that can be used to reliably infer sex, there are some species that are very difficult to sex, and even within many dimorphic species, it is not uncommon to encounter individuals that appear to exhibit both male and female secondary sex characteristics. Therefore, we tested the novel method of using a vibrator to sex turtles by stimulating male turtles to evert their penises. We tested this method on males of four species (three families) with …

Correcting For Unequal Catchability In Sex Ratio And Population Size Estimates, Donald T. Mcknight, Day B. Ligon

College of Natural and Applied Sciences

Wildlife populations often exhibit unequal catchability between subgroups such as males and females. This heterogeneity of capture probabilities can bias both population size and sex ratio estimates. Several authors have suggested that this problem can be overcome by treating males and females as separate populations and calculating a population estimate for each of them. However, this suggestion has received little testing, and many researchers do not implement it. Therefore, we used two simulations to test the utility of this method. One simulated a closed population, while the other simulated an open population and used the robust design to calculate population …

Imaging Bioturbation In Supratidal Carbonates: Non-Invasive Field Techniques Enhance Neoichnological And Zoogeomorphological Research, San Salvador, The Bahamas, Karen Kopcznski, Ilya Buynevich, H. Allen Curran, Jon Caris, Jonathan Nyquist

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

A case study in unconsolidated carbonates on San Salvador Island, The Bahamas, utilized high-frequency (800 MHz) georadar imaging to augment existing methodologies (burrow counts and measurements, casting) in brachyuran bioturbation research (Ocypode quadrata and Gecarcinus lateralis), and as part of a new dataset characterizing blue land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) burrows. Non-invasive techniques such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR) can complement traditional field surveys aimed at quantifying mesoscale bioturbation in modern settings. These methods can establish diagnostic features for tracemaker identification and refine existing ichnofacies models. Drone-mounted aerial coverage provided the first high-resolution images of the micro-topography and …

Radioactive Contamination Of Natural Biological Systems: Oxidative Balance And Genetic Stability, Daniel Einor

Theses and Dissertations

The global demand for nuclear energy grows, and so do the risks of an accidental release of nuclear products into the environment. Therefore, understanding the health and ecological effects of contamination by radionuclides should be of great interest for biomedical specialists and the public. Empirical studies unequivocally show that high doses of ionizing radiation (IR) shift the redox-balance of many biological systems and increase the rates of genetic errors. However, the effects of chronic low doses of radiation vary significantly between tissues and between species. The present dissertation comprises the results of experimental and meta-analytical research of a variety of …

Monitoring Reduction Efforts For Pm2.5 In Ellensburg,Wa Using Community-Based Social Marketing To Examine Behavioral Change, Kelsey Gibbs

All Master's Theses

In 2011, Ellensburg, Washington was labeled by the Washington Department of Ecology as being vulnerable for violating National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate pollution (PM_2.5­). In the Kittitas Basin, winter-time frequent air inversions and stagnant air events trap pollution near the ground, elevating pollutant concentrations during winter months. Wood smoke from household burning has been identified by mobile PM_2.5 monitoring completed in 2015 as the primary source of PM­_2.5. This research utilizes community-based social marketing techniques to encourage behavioral change for wood burning in a targeted neighborhood in Ellensburg. Residents of the target neighborhood …

Talus Features Of The Middle Columbia River: Typological And Locational Analyses, Jeremy Ripin

All Master's Theses

The form and function of talus features of the Columbia Plateau are the subject of archaeological investigations and cultural resource evaluation and protection programs. Depressions excavated in talus slopes, most often circular to oval in shape, are called talus pits. Pit features are also located in colluvium and alluvial fans, and at the base of cliff overhangs. Over 568 of these features have been documented for 48 sites within the project area of the Priest Rapids and Wanapum reservoirs. Pits may have been used for hunting blinds, storage (food and/or equipment), burial, and/or and spirit questing. The size of pits …

Fracked Perceptions: Changes In Perception Regarding Hydraulic Fracturing Among Residents Of Dimock, Pennsylvania., Brian Straniti

All Master's Theses

The primary objective of this research is to critically analyze changes in perceptions associated with hydraulic fracturing within Dimock, Pennsylvania. Residents of Dimock initially welcomed fracking in 2006 due to positive corporate rhetoric promoting economic benefits such as mineral rights acquisition, land-leasing, and local business development. However, economic benefits diminished as Dimock advanced through a boom period resulting in a current economic and ecological bust. Two months of data collection occurred in the summer of 2016 using semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. Political economy of nature and political ecology theoretical frameworks were used to analyze and conceptualize the …

Evaluating The Use Of Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas) For Collecting Thematic Mapping Accuracy Assessment Reference Data In New England Forest Communities, Benjamin Thomas Fraser

Master's Theses and Capstones

To overcome the main drivers of global environmental change, such as land use and land cover change, evolving technologies must be adopted to rapidly and accurately capture, process, analyze, and display a multitude of high resolution spatial variables. Remote sensing technologies continue to advance at an ever-increasing rate to meet end-user needs, now in the form of unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones). UAS have bridged the gap left by satellite imagery, aerial photography, and even ground measurements in data collection potential for all matters of information. This new platform has already been deployed in many data collection scenarios, being …

Evaluating The Influence Of Water Developments On The Demography And Spatial Ecology Of A Rare, Desert-Adapted Carnivore: The Kit Fox (Vulpes Macrotis), Bryan M. Kluever, Eric M. Gese

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Constructing water developments to support anthropogenic activities and particular fauna is pervasive across many arid regions of the globe. Despite their prevalence and a predicted increase as a management and conservation tool, water developments may have complex and unanticipated impacts on wildlife. For example, the addition of water developments to the Great Basin Desert in the western United States may have indirectly contributed to a decrease in distribution and abundance of kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis). From 2010 to 2013, we examined survival, relative abundance, and habitat characteristics of kit foxes in relation to water developments on the U.S. …

The Dynamics Of Economic Status And Health Among Working-Age Adults In The United States, Abdulkarim Mohammad Meraya

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The relationship between economic status and health has been documented in the previous literature. Economic, sociological and epidemiological studies have indicated that higher economic status is associated with better physical and mental health. While these studies have made significant contributions in this area, a comprehensive evaluation of the relationships between economic indicators and health is still lacking. Most studies focused on a single measure of economic status or health. Further, most studies have focused on one-direction -- economic indicators affecting health; little is known about the effect of health improvement on gain in economic status. Furthermore, only a few studies …

Wildlife In An Anthropogenically-Driven World: How Humans Have Shaped The Distribution, Genetic Composition, And Gene Expression Of North American Forest Hawks (Genus: Accipiter), Meghan K. Jensen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Humans are causing drastic environmental change on a global scale and this trend strongly influences the evolution of species. It is also becoming clear that tolerances to anthropogenic disturbance varies widely among organisms. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms by which wildlife cope with humans is a pressing question in modern ecology. North America's forest raptors (Genus: Accipiter) are a useful model for investigating the effects of humans on wildlife species. All three Accipiter species experienced historic demographic declines as a result of anthropogenic activities, yet each species has rebounded differently since these declines. One species in particular is now exploiting urban …

Using Thermal Infrared Imagery To Estimate Soil Hydraulic Parameters: A Novel Approach, Matthew B. Thomas

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

In this study, skin temperature measured with a thermal infrared (TIR) camera was used to estimate soil hydraulic parameters. These physical properties that control how soils transport and retain water are notoriously difficult to measure in the field due to spatial variability. Laboratory experiments were set up to record surface skin temperature response in a clean soil column using a TIR camera after an artificial wetting event. An array of thermocouples, a net radiometer, heat flux sensor and weather station were used to constrain the TIR data and the energy budget during the experiment. The soil column surface was then …