Digital Commons Network^™

The Adaptive Value Of Complex Socio-Communicative Behavior, Sara A. Skiba

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Human spoken language represents the most elaborate communication system, however the selection pressures leading to its emergence are still uncertain. Unlike humans, bonobos and chimpanzees do not have language. However, bonobos may have been subjected to similar selection pressures as early hominins, subsequent to their phylogenetic split from chimpanzees roughly 1.5 million years ago. The current study investigated the similarities and differences in sociality and communicative production between bonobos and chimpanzees in captive settings, using 9, 10-minute focal follows for each individual. Analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between social proximity score and total communicative signals produced, as well as …

An Application Of Machine Learning For The Identification Of Adolescent Smoking Risk Factors, Sophia Chung, Youngji Li

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Purpose: Smoking is known to be a modifiable risk behavior that causes various health problems that include cancer and respiratory disease. Moreover, the literature reveals that adolescent smoking behaviors are likely to persist through adulthood, and this is the case in countries worldwide. In South Korea, despite many effeorts to reduce smoking among Korean adolescents, this modifiable risk behavior remains a significant social problem. An effective intervention to target and modify the behavior of adolescents concerning smoking must understand and address the factors that underlie and influence the behavior of smoking. These factors canbe surfaced in data using an appropriate …

Subtropical Benthos Vary With Reef Type, Depth, And Grazing Intensity, Kara R. Wall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine epibenthic communities are influenced by both pre- and post-recruitment processes. For instance, the larval supply and cues that influence settlement (pre-recruitment), as well as the growth and mortality of individuals (post-recruitment), may differ across reef type and depth. Determining the relative influence of these processes is important to understanding how epibenthic communities can develop in a region. Using both a recruitment experiment that controlled grazing by urchins and in situ photographic surveys of epibenthic communities, this study examined the recruitment and composition of epibenthos on natural limestone and artificial reefs in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (eGOM). In the …

Freshwater Wetland Creation In A Changing Urban Environment: Designing For Long-Term Viability, Aaron Thomas Ryan Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization and wetland mitigation are increasingly common in coastal watersheds with expanding populations. These mitigation wetlands are intended to offset the functional and structural losses experienced when natural systems are degraded or destroyed. In the Tampa Bay watershed, urbanization is both expanding into the upper reaches of the watershed and intensifying in previously-developed areas, resulting in the creations of hundreds of freshwater mitigation wetlands. This dissertation utilized an existing database of mitigation wetlands, publicly available data, and field surveys to investigate the relationship between constructed wetlands and their surroundings and also determine how design affects wetland condition over time. The …

Graphite And Graphene-Oxide Based Pgm-Free Model Catalysts For The Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Joseph Henry Dumont

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

The world currently relies heavily on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas for its energy. Fossil fuels are non-renewable, that is, they draw on finite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too expensive or too environmentally damaging to retrieve. One alternative source of energy are fuel cells, electrochemical devices that convert chemical energy to cleanly and efficiently produce electricity. They can be used in a wide range of applications, including transportation, stationary, portable and emergency power sources. Their development has been slowed by the high cost of PGM electrocatalysts needed at both electrodes as well as sluggish …

The Cosm Aggregate, Georgia Southern University

College of Science & Mathematics: News & Publications (2012-2022)

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Dependence Of An Urban System In Japan On Forest Ecosystem Services: A Case Study, Takanori Matsui, Tetsuro Takebata, Takuma Toyoda, Robert Shaw, Takashi Machimura

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Abstract

With the progress of urbanization, the importance of biodiversity conservation and sustainable ecosystem service use in urban systems has been entirely acknowledged. We are recognizing the need to redesign city systems from the viewpoint of the relationship between urban activities and natural ecosystems. In this study, we evaluated the dependence of human activities within a large metropolitan region on ecosystem services. Our evaluation focused on the civilian sector (which consists of business and residential activities) of the municipalities of Osaka prefecture, Japan. This study applied a framework known as Ecosystem Services Use (ESU), an ecological footprint-based evaluation method, in …

Recommendations For Urban Biodiversity Conservation In The Context Of Landscape Preference In Singapore, Yu Ting Joanne Khew, Makoto Yokohari

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Effective urban biodiversity conservation requires that planners facilitate public acceptance towards biodiversity and its associated habitats within urban areas. This research quantifies the biodiversity conservation potential of landscapes of varying human interference in Singapore and functions under a backdrop that the general public has an aesthetically-driven preference for manicured landscapes. Biodiversity counts for conservation-targeted species from six biodiversity categories species [seed plants, ferns and fern allies, mammals, reptiles, birds and insects (excluding Lepidoptera)] across four landscape types show that naturalistic landscapes (primary and secondary vegetation) harbored at least eight times the number of conservation-target species than manicured landscapes and urban …

Copper Electrodeposition In Mesoscale Through-Silicon-Vias, Lyle Alexander Menk

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Copper (Cu) electrodeposition (ECD) in through-silicon-vias (TSVs) is an essential technique required for high-density 3-D integration of complex semiconductor devices. The importance of Cu ECD in damascene interconnects has led to a natural development towards copper electrodeposition in TSVs. Cu ECD is preferred over alternative approaches like the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of tungsten (W) or aluminum (Al) because Cu ECD films have lower film stress, lower processing temperatures, and more optimal thermal and electrical properties as compared with CVD W or Al.

Via filling with electroplated Cu on substrates that have undergone atomic layer deposition of a conformal platinum …

The Ivory Tower, Urban Growth, And State Subjugation: An Historical Analysis On The Construction Of Student Identities And The Public Good During University Generated Redevelopment Projects, Jacob R. Wolff

Geography ETDs

Having become almost cliché in academic discourses, the term gentrification offers a conceptualization of sociospatial transformation too narrow for contemporary understandings of inequality within the post-industrial city. Generalizations of a wealthy populous displacing working-class and marginalized populations fail to address the diversity, complexity, and scope of economic hollowing-out and fail to fully account for other incoming subpopulations such as the emergent “creative class,” comprised of university-educated individuals who are not necessarily considered affluent by traditional economic measures. To this end, scholars in the United Kingdom have identified university neighborhood formation as a significant yet distinct process of place production that …

The Compleat Naturalist: A Life Of Linnaeus. Wilfrid Blunt. New York: The Viking Press, 1971. 256 Pp. $14.95., Ronald S. Wilkinson

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Excerpt: Not all historians agree thoroughly with Julius von Sachs' suggestion in the Geschichte der Botanik (1875) that the work of Carl von Linnd marked the conclusion of an old epoch rather than the beginning of a new one, but it is true that most of Linnaeus' contributions were elaborations of the views of his predecessors. Except to historians of science, his sexual system of the classification of plants is all but forgotten. Yet as the grand nomenclator of the eighteenth century, and the regulator and popularizer (if not the innovator) of binomial nomenclature in biology, his place is secure …

The Singing Insects Of Michigan, Richard D. Alexander, Ann E. Pace, Daniel Otte

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Excerpt: The so-called "singing" insects are all those that make loud, rhythmical noises. They include members of three groups of Orthoptera (Gryllidae, Tettigoniidae, and Acridoidea) and one family of Homoptera (Cicadidae). There are about 300 noisy species in these four groups in eastern North America, perhaps a thousand in all of North America, and 25-30 thousand in the entire world. Only about 1000 of the world species have been studied in any detail, mostly in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

Is A Subjective Theory Of Moral Language Possible?, Ali R. Shahrukhi

Episteme

In this paper, the author goes through considerations that come up when analyzing the prospect of a truly subjective theory of moral language. Certain forms of subjectivism are found to be either less than viable, similar to moral realism, or dependent upon psychological matters of debate. Support for this conclusion comes from Hume’s analysis of beliefs and desires; Wittgenstein’s private language argument; the fact that moral discussion is required; Smith’s theory of converging desires and beliefs within his moral realism; and the influence of community and environment. The discussion advocates a union of desires, moral beliefs, and actions, if subjectivism …

Parkinson Disease Related Phenotypes And Gene Expression Modeled In Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Kinsley Belle

Open Access Dissertations

Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. Parkinson disease related variants have been identified in many different genes, and the products of these genes are involved in autophagy, mitochondria and cell stability pathways. However, these identified variants are responsible for only 15% of PD cases, with the bulk of these cases being idiopathic PD. While genes do play a role, the most important risk factor in PD is age. Though the average age of onset for PD is 62, early onset forms of PD have been diagnosed in patients …

Assessing The Conserved Behavior Of Dissolved Organic Carbon In The Deep Ocean, Sarah Kathryn Jirikowic Bercovici

Open Access Dissertations

The global ocean contains a massive reservoir (662±32 Pg C) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and its dynamics, particularly in the deepest zones, are only slowly being understood. DOC in the deep ocean is ubiquitously low in concentration (~35 to 48 μmol kg-1) and aged (4000 to 6000 years), persisting for multiple meridional overturning circulation cycles. Deep waters relatively enriched in DOC form in the North Atlantic. They migrate to the Southern Ocean (SO) to mix with waters from Antarctic shelves and the deep Pacific and Indian Oceans, in turn forming the voluminous circumpolar waters. The latter ultimately feed back …

Draft Genome Sequence Of Bacillus Altitudinis Ynp4-Tsu, Isolated From Yellowstone National Park, Joshua A. O'Hair, Hui Li, Santosh Thapa, Matthew Scholz, Suping Zhou

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Undisturbed hot springs inside Yellowstone National Park remain a dynamic biome for novel cellulolytic thermophiles. We report here the draft genome sequence of one of these isolates, Bacillus altitudinis YNP4-TSU.

Mcb Alum Elahu Gosney Sustarsic Finds Dream Job In Denmark, Ohio University College Of Arts & Sciences

All Forum Articles

No abstract provided.

Oldest Human Occupation Of Wallacea At Laili Cave, Timor-Leste, Shows Broad-Spectrum Foraging Responses To Late Pleistocene Environments, Stuart Hawkins, Sue O'Connor, Tim Ryan Maloney

KIP Articles

The Wallacea Archipelago provides an extraordinary laboratory for the study of human colonisation and adaptation, yet few detailed archaeological studies have been conducted in the region that span the earliest phase of human settlement. Laili Cave, in northern Timor-Leste, preserves the oldest human occupation in this insular region with a cultural sequence spanning 11,200 to 44,600 cal BP. Small-bodied vertebrates and invertebrates were recovered to the lowest excavated levels, associated with highly concentrated stone artefacts. We report on human behavioural adaptations within the context of Pleistocene environments and changing landscapes using zooarchaeological, stone artefact, bathymetric, and experimental isotopic analyses. Results …

Pseudogymnoascus Destructans Transcriptome Changes During White-Nose Syndrome Infections, Sophia M. Reeder, Jonathan M. Palmer, Jenni M. Prokkola, Thomas M. Lilley, Deeann M. Reeder, Ken Field

Faculty Journal Articles

White nose syndrome (WNS) is caused by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans that can grow in the environment saprotrophically or parasitically by infecting hibernating bats. Infections are pathological in many species of North American bats, disrupting hibernation and causing mortality. To determine what fungal pathways are involved in infection of living tissue, we examined fungal gene expression using RNA-Seq. We compared P. destructans gene expression when grown in culture to that during infection of a North American bat species, Myotis lucifugus, that shows high WNS mortality. Cultured P. destructans was grown at 10 to 14 C and P. destructans …

The Influence Of Childhood Polyvictimization On Disordered Eating Symptoms In Emerging Adulthood, Amanda Hasselle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Children who endure multiple victimization experiences, or "polyvictims," are vulnerable to maladaptive outcomes. Yet, little research exists evaluating the relationship between childhood polyvictimization and disordered eating symptoms (DES) in emerging adulthood. The current study examines the relationship between childhood polyvictimization and DES in emerging adults. Data were collected from 288 participants across two universities using online self-report measures. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed a significant positive relationship between number of childhood victimization experiences and DES in young adulthood (ß = .14; p = .016). Female participants were more likely to demonstrate DES (ß = .14; p = .008). Further, high levels …

Melton V. Alt Respondent's Brief Dckt. 44768

Idaho Supreme Court Records & Briefs, All

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Census Data Into A Geospatial Student Database, Edwin Agbenyega

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The University of New Mexico(UNM) stores data on students, faculty, and staff at the University. The data is used to generate reports and fill surveys for several local, statewide and nationwide reporting entities. The reports convey statistical and analytical information such as the graduation rates, retention, performance, ethnicity, age, and gender of students. Furthermore, the Institute of Design and Innovation (IDI), and the Office of Institutional Analytics (OIA) at UNM use the data provided for various predictive studies aimed at improving student outcomes.

This thesis proposes geospatial data as an additional layer of information for the data repository. The paper …

Caring For Military Combat Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd), Tanya Marie Benjamin-Wilson

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a growing problem of concern within the military. Veterans serving in combat are more likely to develop PTSD symptoms resulting from participation in wartime conflicts and exposure to traumatic events. Younger veterans with multiple predisposing factors are at an increased risk. The signs and symptoms of PTSD closely mirror the signs and symptoms of other mental health conditions. This can lead to problems with appropriate diagnosis and treatment. Military combat veterans with untreated or misdiagnosed PTSD symptoms are at risk for interference with social, physical, and professional functioning. Problems related to non-existent or inadequate PTSD …

The Effect On Inter-Rater Consistency Using A Standardized Assessment Tool/Framework In Musculoskeletal Examinations, Debra Lynn Brewer

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

This quality improvement (QI) project was conducted to determine if a standardized assessment framework/tool for clinician use when conducting musculoskeletal examinations for disability claims would increase inter-rater consistency. The problem of inconsistent musculoskeletal examination outcomes was identified when clinicians performing disability examinations at a large healthcare organization reported a lack of criteria on which to base the determination of "functional loss." The finding of "functional loss" was being made independently by each clinician without any specific criteria and the examination outcomes lacked inter-rater consistency. A survey of the clinicians revealed that several examiners concluded that an examinee experienced "functional loss" …

Informed Entry In Auctions, Diego Aycinena, Hernán Bejarano, Lucas Rentschler

ESI Publications

We examine entry decisions in first-price and English clock auctions with participation costs. Potential bidders observe their value and report maximum willingness to pay (WTP) to participate. Entry occurs if revealed WTP (weakly) exceeds the randomly drawn participation cost. We find no difference in WTP between auction formats, although males have a higher WTP for first-price auctions. WTP is decreasing in the number of potential bidders, but this reduction is less than predicted and small in magnitude.

Four Graduates In Four Countries, Jody Record

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Vocal Aggression In The Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma Coerulescens): Behavior, Hormones, And The Role Of Females, Stephen Michael Ferguson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Avian vocal communication and its role in agonistic encounters is well-studied, but many of its roles remain unclear. Studies suggest that exposure to conspecific calls activate the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) and/or hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes in some species. Additionally, while vocal communication research has been dominated by research on male song, recent research has increasingly examined the role of females. I conducted a series of experiments in Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens), a year-round territorial and highly vocal corvid that uses both intersex and female-specific calls, to investigate the role of vocal territory defense as an ecologically-relevant stressor in nestlings and adults, as …

Examining The Use Of Amazon’S Mechanical Turk For Edge Extraction Of The Occlusal Surface Of Fossilized Bovid Teeth, George K. Thiruvathukal, Gregory J. Matthews, Maxwell P. Luetkemeier, Juliet K. Brophy

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In order to reconstruct environments associated with Plio-Pleistocene hominins in southern Africa, researchers frequently rely upon the animals associated with the hominins, in particular, animals in the Family Bovidae. Bovids in southern Africa are typically identified by their teeth. However, identifying the taxon of a bovid tooth is challenging due to various biasing factors. Furthermore, inaccurate identification of fossil bovids can have significant consequences on the reconstructed paleoenvironment. Recent research on the classification of bovid fossil teeth has relied on using elliptical Fourier analysis to summarize the shape of the outline of the occlusal surface of the tooth and the …

Distribution Of Western Juniper Seeds Across An Ecotone And Implications For Dispersal, Lindsay A. Dimitri, William S. Longland

Western North American Naturalist

Western juniper woodlands have been the focus of extensive research and management due to range expansion and infilling that began over a century ago. Understanding juniper seed dispersal is vital to identifying processes behind this expansion. Dispersal of Juniperus seeds has generally been attributed to consumption of female juniper cones (“berries”) by frugivorous birds and mammals, which then defecate seeds after gut passage. However, recent studies have found that scatter-hoarding rodents harvest and cache juniper seeds. Rodents caching and failing to recover juniper seeds that have been removed from feces may constitute a secondary mode of dispersal that accounts for …

Dengue Vaccination Modulates The Dengue-Zika Viral System Via Immunogenic Cross-Talk, Noah Joseph Bernard Silva

Biology ETDs

A vaccine for dengue, a viral disease which is a major driver of morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical regions, has recently been approved by eleven countries. While vaccination has the potential to reduce disease burden, the approved vaccine faces challenges due to the interactions between the four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV1-4) and the potential interactions with Zika virus (ZIKV), a related flavivirus. In this study, we propose a mathematical model incorporating both DENV and ZIKV in order to investigate the effects of viral competition on dengue vaccine performance, the potential for change in incidence of Zika due …