Digital Commons Network^™

Review Of Major Crop And Animal Arthropod Pests Of South Texas, Holly N. Davis, John A. Goolsby, Donald B. Thomas, Ismael Badillo, Rupesh R. Kariyat, Christopher Vitek, Danielle Sekula

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

The Lower Rio Grande Valley is an area in Texas that consists of the four southern-most counties. This area contains a diverse range of agriculture and land-use including vegetable, row-crop and livestock production. The year-around cool to hot subtropical climate means that green vegetation is continually present, including many crops. Geographically, it shares an international border, making it a region vulnerable to new invasive species and the re-introduction of pests that have been previously eliminated in the United States. These combined factors lead to an array of arthropod pests that may have serious impacts on the crops, animals, and people …

Terrestrial Snail Communities Of The Lower Rio Grande Valley Are Affected By Human Disturbance And Correlate With Vegetation Community Composition, Briante S. Lewis Najev, Alison Schofield, Raziel I. Flores, Benjamin T. Hutchins, J. Andrew Mcdonald, Kathryn E. Perez

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

The lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (LRGV) contains a unique, subtropical, semiarid floodplain with most of the few remaining Tamaulipan thorn forests in the United States. Less than 2% of Tamaulipan thorn forest remains, with urban and agricultural conversion potentially threatening diverse plant and animal communities native to the habitat. We performed vegetative community surveys and conducted a comprehensive survey of terrestrial snail communities in intact (refugia sites, minimally altered in recent times) and altered (previously cleared and regrown or restored) Tamaulipan thorn forest habitats of the LRGV. In a comparison of intact and altered sites that have comparable …

Challenges In Monitoring Mobile Populations - Applying Bayesian Multi-Site Mark-Recapture Abundance Estimation To The Monitoring Of A Highly Mobile Coastal Population Of Bottlenose Dolphins, Simon N. Ingram

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Agent-Based And Continuous Models Of Hopper Bands For The Australian Plague Locust: How Resource Consumption Mediates Pulse Formation And Geometry, Andrew J. Bernoff, Michael Culshaw-Maurer, Rebecca Everett, Maryann E. Hohn, W. Christopher Strickland

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Markus Lampe And Paul Sharp. A Land Of Milk And Butter: How Elites Created The Modern Danish Dairy Industry, J. R. Christianson

The Bridge

In her Copenhagen apartment, she had a gray stoneware jug decorated with a verse in blue letters: Før sled de bønder rent forbandet, nu er de herrerne i landet – “They used to slave with little say / But farmers rule the land today.” My wife’s grandmother had come to Copenhagen from Jutland as a pretty sixteen-year-old on the eve of the First World War, leaving behind her deep rural roots to become a city woman. The legend on her jug came true in 1901, when the farmers’ party (Venstre) took control of the Rigsdag and forced King Christian X …

Ouroboros: The Evolution From Industrialized Mass Production To Auteurism In American Animation, Heather Knott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The evolution of animation in the United States and its resulting classification varies significantly from its global counterparts. Through a convergence of complex cultural, regulatory, and entrepreneurial influences, the medium's experimental artistic principals have remained firmly rooted in the mass-production style studio pipeline codified by Hollywood. Through the advent of academically centered animation education, the development of the internet, self-distribution, and the growing affordability of industry level hardware and software, the industry has expanded beyond the traditional narrow scope. This re-globalization of entertainment in the United States encourages an auteur approach to animated filmmaking that is challenging the strict association …

Comparing Human And Machine Learning Classification Of Human Factors In Incident Reports From Aviation, Claas Tido Boesser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Incident reporting systems are an integral part of any organization seeking to increase the safety of their operation by gathering data on past events, which can then be used to identify ways of mitigating similar events in the future. In order to analyze trends and common issues with regards to the human element in the system, reports are often classified according to a human factors taxonomy. Lately, machine learning algorithms have become popular tools for automated classification of text; however, performance of such algorithms varies and is dependent on several factors. In supervised machine learning tasks such as text classification, …

Athletic Identity, Greg Camillone

Research Papers

Limited data exists in college athletics about mental health conditions, while physical health remains the higher priority. In order to contribute to the limited understanding of student-athletes’ cognitive behavior, a documentary on collegiate student-athletes is produced, utilizing athletic identity as its main theme. Furthermore, the documentary shares personal experiences of how athletes have handled the transition from athletic role to an alternate identity, and how that change effected them mentally.

The purpose of this study is to present evidence from a Division I athletic program to contribute towards answering the following questions:

1. Are collegiate student-athletes struggling mentally with life after …

High-Speed Interferometry And Visible Videography For Meniscus Curvature Analysis During Anisotropic Hemiwicking, John Bal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Recent advancements in microelectronics have increased the need for thermal management systems capable of high heat flux dissipation within significant spatial constraints. One method of increasing local heat fluxes is the fabrication of superhydrophilic materials via micro/nanostructuring of the surface. Superhydrophilic surfaces act in a self-pumping capacity, spreading fluid beyond its intrinsic meniscus length to form thin-films, a process known as "hemiwicking", with practical applications in evaporative cooling, as well as flow, pool, and thin-film boiling. Of particular interest is anisotropic hemiwicking via asymmetric microstructuring. The microscopic asymmetricity of the design induces a macroscopically preferred direction of wicking, which has …

Afrofuturism In Animation: Self Identity Of African Americans In Cinematic Storytelling, Dana Barnes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

My work addresses the importance of self-identity within the Black culture of the United States of America through the depiction of an African American boy who must look into himself to overcome a difficult bullying situation. Animation as a medium is an ideal tool for interrogating the Western perspective of identity through cinematic storytelling. Using established animation methods, I created a visual narrative to portray the impact self-identity has on an individual's actions in certain social conditions. The film expands the medium of animation to subvert the narrative expectations of bullying and presents the idea of identity as a nonconforming …

Open-Ended Search Through Minimal Criterion Coevolution, Jonathan Brant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Search processes guided by objectives are ubiquitous in machine learning. They iteratively reward artifacts based on their proximity to an optimization target, and terminate upon solution space convergence. Some recent studies take a different approach, capitalizing on the disconnect between mainstream methods in artificial intelligence and the field's biological inspirations. Natural evolution has an unparalleled propensity for generating well-adapted artifacts, but these artifacts are decidedly non-convergent. This new class of non-objective algorithms induce a divergent search by rewarding solutions according to their novelty with respect to prior discoveries. While the diversity of resulting innovations exhibit marked parallels to natural evolution, …

Alexander: A Dive Into Identity, Inspiration, And Release Of The Creative Self, Alyssa Garoogian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Alexander is a story of overcoming the fear of personal artistic expression. Alexander is the son of an affluent family who was found to have musical talent at a young age. Alex grows to enjoy music, but rote exercises alone begin to disillusion the promising musician. Regardless, Alexander dutifully practices piano exercises daily, bored by the lack of creative stimulation but afraid to openly admit it. After an accidental music note sparks his imagination, Alexander escapes into fantasy: a colorful visualization of the original music he creates. Within this fantasy, a warm, supportive community leads Alexander to his most significant …

Mill Cove Complex Lithic Typology: Understanding Early Mississippian Period Social Exchange In Northeastern Florida, Sherman Johns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

A large focus of Mississippian period archaeological research concerns itself with the role groups have played in the long distance social exchange networks prevalent across the Mississippian World. The Mill Cove Complex, a Mississippian period (A.D. 900-1250) village and dual sand mound burial complex situated on the periphery of the Mississippian World in Jacksonville, Florida is one such case. The St. Johns II people living at the Mill Cove Complex had connections deep into the Mississippian southeast reaching all the way to Cahokia. Understanding the role of these unique people within the large social networks requires an examination of all …

Incels And The Manosphere: Tracking Men's Movements Online, Annie Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Throughout history, men have responded to feminist progress with political backlash. Pre-internet men's groups used biological constructions of gender as a method of reinforcing patriarchal power by restricting the rights of women. Today, the same methods are used in a loose collection of men's rights groups online called 'the manosphere'. Within the manosphere, men who identify as involuntarily celibate (incels) blame women for their perceived loss of masculine power. Some incels have taken their anti-feminist backlash offline through acts of mass violence, suggesting an emergent need for social science research into the incel identity. This paper outlines the theoretical orientation …

Forests And Farmers: A Landscape Approach To Settlement Pattern Analysis In The Bolivian Amazon, Thomas Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The Llanos de Mojos of the Bolivian Amazon is a domesticated landscape with a long history of management by pre-Columbian communities. This project uses a landscape approach to interpret the settlement patterns of pre-Columbian raised field farmers in west central Mojos. The pre-Columbian landscape was reconstructed by mapping the distribution of three types of landscape features: forest islands, raised agricultural fields and water systems (rivers, streams & wetlands). Previous research has identified four types of patterned clustering or 'constellations' of these landscape features in west central Mojos. These constellations and the immediate area of the landscape that surrounds them afforded …

Bat Boxes As Mitigation Tools: Factors Impacting Microclimate And Myotis Sodalis Roost Selection, Reed Crawford

Online Theses and Dissertations

Environmental degradation has led to declines in available natural roosting habitat for bats. To mitigate this loss, practitioners often deploy artificial roosts (e.g., bat boxes). There are no established species-specific practices for deployment strategy and roost design selection, but occupancy rates are known to vary across species and roost microclimates can be harmful to bats. Providing bats with thermally beneficial roosts during summer could enhance overwinter survival of WNS-affected species. To further our understanding of roost preference and microclimate, we deployed 40 rocket box roosts of 5 designs at field sites in Indiana and Kentucky. Roosts were deployed in clusters …

The Importance Of Surface Mining As A Landscape Variable In Shaping Wild Bee Communities In Central Appalachian Forests, Amanda Sheryl Dunaway

Online Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic disturbance has led to widespread losses in biodiversity. Native bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) provide essential pollination services and have been declining in abundance dramatically in recent years. One potential cause of these declines is anthropogenic disturbance. Eleven sites were established in Southeastern Kentucky, U.S.A. where surface mining for coal is common. Data was analyzed using generalized linear mixed-effect models to detect the most important landscape scale variables, including mining, in shaping bee communities. Bee species richness was significantly lower on sites that contained surface mines, but abundance was similar between mined and unmined sites. The proportion of each nesting group …

Creating A Place For Monstrosity: The Forced Liminality And Limited Mobility Of Codified Monstrosity In Leigh Bardugo's King Of Scars, Kaylee Brooke Lambert

Online Theses and Dissertations

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) outlines the purpose of young adult (YA) literature as addressing the unique needs of adolescents, which are “distinguished by unique needs that are – at minimum — physical, intellectual, emotional, and societal in nature” (Cart “Value” para. 8). This unique period in life is liminal, a time between childhood and adulthood. Adolescents search for meaning in the world around them, with literature as one avenue for self-discovery and affirmation. Mental health is one area teenagers seek answers, and YA literature has attempted to provide spaces to navigate those questions in popular contemporary works …

Types Of Social Support In Distance Education And Academic Performance At A Southwestern Historically Black College And University, Jennifer Paige Miles

Online Theses and Dissertations

As a result of rapid growth in distance education, increasingly more students are enrolling in online courses. Nearly 81% of all U.S. postsecondary institutions offered “at least one fully online or blended course” in 2003 (Jones & Davenport, 2018). Previous research has demonstrated African American students site “convenience” as an influence in enrolling in an online course (Kwun et al., 2012). While online learning offers benefits to both institutions and students (Anderson, 2008), research has also found students may exhibit stress and anxiety as a result of isolation and loneliness caused by distance learning (Duranton & Mason, 2012; Heinman, 2008; …

Blue Lives Memorialized: Collective Memory And The Production Of Ideology And Injustice In American Policing, Douglas Hyatt Peach

Online Theses and Dissertations

Police memorials are physical objects in public spaces, objects which seed our own cultural and personal ideologies, beliefs, and behaviors and which command our collective attention. Using qualitative research methodology, this visual ethnography looks at the unique and inherent power of police memorialization through the 2015 death of officer Daniel Ellis of the Richmond, Kentucky police department and the subsequent actions of the surrounding community and state officials. The purpose of this study was to document the widespread visual culture and iconography associated with memorialization, including the origin and placement of physical memorials made in honor of Ellis, thin blue …

Assessment Of Indiana Bat Reproductive Condition, Recapture Trends, And Temperatures Of Artificial Roosts In Kentucky, Michaela L. Rogers

Online Theses and Dissertations

Recovery of bat species impacted by white-nose syndrome (WNS) will necessarily require population growth. I assessed reproductive capability of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) in Kentucky, where WNS was first detected in hibernacula in April 2011. Due to loss of fat reserves associated with WNS infection, coupled with the energetic expenditures associated with pregnancy, I hypothesized mass of reproductively-active females captured during the maternity season would decrease across my data collection period (2017-2019). Further, I predicted that reproductive rates in the study population would be lower than historic rates for Kentucky. Mist net surveys around artificial maternity roosts at …

Effects Of Nutrient Overload And Environmental Conditions On Algal Bloom Formation: A Case Study Of Water Sources In Eastern Kentucky, Lauren Sutton

Online Theses and Dissertations

Eastern Kentucky is home to many private ponds used for agricultural and recreational purposes. Each year, the owners of these ponds observe harmful algal blooms (HABs) that release toxins into the water, potentially limiting the use of these ponds. A pilot study in summer 2018 observed a harmful algal bloom (HAB) occurring in one pond in Madison Country that roughly correlated with a rise in water sulfate levels with no detectable levels of nitrate or phosphate present. A follow-up study of this pond and others in the area was conducted during Summer 2019. The purpose of this project was three-fold: …

Bee Abundance Along A Tropical Montane Elevational Gradient And Implications For Crop Pollination Services, Kristin M. Conrad

Online Theses and Dissertations

Tropical forests are among the biologically richest ecosystems on Earth, but how most organisms in these forests will respond to a warming climate remains uncertain. Insects are expected to be highly responsive to climate change due to their short life cycles that are strongly influenced by temperature. Plants depend on pollinators to set seed and reproduce, and many animal populations rely on the resources provided by flowering plants. There is an urgent need to document elevational distributions and thermal specialization for tropical bee species to understand how these important pollinators may respond to warming temperatures. My four-year study (2016-2019) aims …

The Effects Of The Estrus Cycle On Microbiota Composition And The Opportunistic Pathogen Listeria Monocytogenes Infection Process In Murine Models, Ryan William-Thomas Donkin

Online Theses and Dissertations

In the U.S., Listeria monocytogenes accounts for less than one percent of foodborne illnesses but has a 28% mortality rate. Infection in healthy individuals causes colonization of the intestinal lumen and subclinical noninvasive listeriosis. However, translocation of L. monocytogenes across the intestinal epithelium produces invasive systemic listeriosis with central nervous system involvement. Little is known of the gastrointestinal stages of L. monocytogenes pathogenesis. Enteric pathogens such as L. monocytogenes interact directly with the host-microbiota during the gastrointestinal phase of pathogenesis. Recent research has recognized that microbiota plays a role in activating immune response and protecting against invasive pathogens. Individual host …

Kitty Hawk Way, Mary Elizabeth Pope

Online Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Impacts Of Driving Factors On Annual Cicada Emergence In Relation To The Seasonal Abundance Of Eastern Copperheads (Agkistrodon Contortrix), Jesse Christian Sockman

Online Theses and Dissertations

For many species, life history events are cyclical and often correspond to specific environmental conditions. As a result of environmental variability, the optimal conditions that regulate the range and activity of highly regulated cyclical organisms, like cicadas, are subject to temporal change. Variability in cicada emergence and abundance has been shown to impact the species that rely on the rapid influx of nutrients. One such predator is the Eastern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) that has been noted feeding on emerging cicadas throughout their range. In eastern Kentucky, observations of copperheads congregating to feed on cicadas has been documented in recreational areas. …

Son Of Red Earth Or The George Story: Novel Excerpt, Callie Ann Atkinson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Somebody Told Me You Died, Barry E. Maxwell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Somebody Told Me You Died is a sampling of works exploring the author’s transition from “normal” life to homelessness, their adaptations to that world and its ways, and their eventual efforts to return from it. The collection dovetails into a final essay examining the struggle to comprehend and rise above a racist upbringing.

Dark-Night And Nameless:Globalization In Murakami’S Kafka On The Shore And The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Thomas Velazquez Herring

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Sing, Woman!, Emma Marie Spencer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.