Digital Commons Network^™

Artificial Nightlight Alters The Predator–Prey Dynamics Of An Apex Carnivore, Mark A. Ditmer, David C. Stoner, Clinton D. Francis, Jesse R. Barber, James D. Forster, David M. Choate, Kirsten E. Ironside, Kathleen M. Longshore, Kent R. Hersey, Randy T. Larsen, Brock R. Mcmillan, Daniel D. Olson, Alyson M. Andreasen, Jon P. Beckmann, P. Brandon Holton, Terry A. Messmer, Neil H. Carter

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Artificial nightlight is increasingly recognized as an important environmental disturbance that influences the habitats and fitness of numerous species. However, its effects on wide‐ranging vertebrates and their interactions remain unclear. Light pollution has the potential to amplify land‐use change, and as such, answering the question of how this sensory stimulant affects behavior and habitat use of species valued for their ecological roles and economic impacts is critical for conservation and land‐use planning. Here, we combined satellite‐derived estimates of light pollution, with GPS‐data from cougars Puma concolor (n = 56), mule deer Odocoileus hemionus (n = 263) and locations of cougar‐killed …

Long‐Distance Natal Dispersal Is Relatively Frequent And Correlated With Environmental Factors In A Widespread Raptor, Hanna M. Mccaslin, T. Trevor Caughlin, Julie A. Heath

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

1. Dispersal is a critical process influencing population dynamics and responses to global change. Long‐distance dispersal (LDD) can be especially important for gene flow and adaptability, although little is known about the factors influencing LDD because studying large‐scale movements is challenging and LDD tends to be observed less frequently than shorter‐distance dispersal (SDD).
2. We sought to understand patterns of natal dispersal at a large scale, specifically aiming to understand the relative frequency of LDD compared to SDD and correlates of dispersal distances.
3. We used bird banding and encounter data for American kestrels (Falco sparverius) to investigate the effects of …

Cultural Diversity Impact On The Decision-Making Of Leaders Within Organizations, Ahmedin Pasic

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This case study explored and analyzed cultural diversity’s impact in the workplace and in the overall performance of multicultural or multinational organizations in Richmond, Virginia. The principal investigator’s original intent was to examine its implications for the decision-making of leaders within two or three multinational corporations. However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, he pursued a single case study in one local multicultural organization. This study targeted both leaders’ and employees’ perceptions regarding cultural diversity and integrating their insights into the implications that cultural diversity has for them and the body of knowledge on the topic. The …

Demography Of A Recovery: Tracking The Rebound Of Little Brown Bat (Myotis Lucifugus) Populations, Katherine Ineson

Doctoral Dissertations

As the emergence of novel diseases in wildlife becomes more common, a better understanding of the impact of disease on populations and their demographic rates will be critical for their conservation. Populations naturally fluctuate over time as a function of the rates of birth, death, immigration, and emigration, while at the individual level the chances of mortality and reproduction may be influenced by age and physiological condition. Diseases, particularly emerging infectious diseases, can cause immediate and severe changes in demographic rates. While some populations and species may go extinct due to high mortality rates, others may persist in smaller, but …

Association Between Sociodemographic Factors And Estrogen Receptor-Positive, Progesterone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer Subtypes: A Cross-Sectional Study, Vinodkumar Mugada, Raj Kiran Kolakota, Varsha Mahato

Makara Journal of Health Research

Background: The presence of risk factors have a high risk of developing breast cancer. Our study aimed to find an association between sociodemographic factors and the risk of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, progesterone receptor (PR)-positive breast cancer among women.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 women with breast cancer. Association between sociodemographic factors and hormone receptor subtypes of breast cancer was found using the Chi-square test. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to know the strong predictors of hormone receptor subtypes.

Results: The mean age was 50.08 (10.67) years. Comorbidities had a statistically significant association with …

Defiance, Concealed Carry, And Race, Nicholas J. Johnson

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Life Cycles Of The Kelps Saccharina Latissima And Alaria Marginata: Implications For Mariculture And Ecology In Alaska, Annie E.T. Raymond

Fisheries

Kelp farming has the potential to economically diversify coastal communities of Alaska while offering other ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration and mitigation of eutrophication. Two bottlenecks to the expansion of the industry are understanding the natural kelp life cycle and manipulating the life cycle to produce seed. We address these questions with specific research aimed to increase knowledge of the expected natural variability of the kelp life cycle and test methods to effectively manipulate storage of kelp seed string to add flexibility to the kelp farming industry. First, in Chapter 1, we documented the patterns of sporophyte fertility for two …

The Context And Experience Of Mobility Among Urban Marginalized Women In New Delhi, India, Krity Gera, Peter Hasdell

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Gender and mobility are two different yet complex themes that intersect to reveal the impact of the latter on practices related to gender. Indian women experience restriction on their movement because of social, cultural and economic issues. In such contexts, the informal modes of transport emerge as bottom-up solutions to fill in the voids left by public transportation system. Transportation is not just a means for geographical mobility but impacts social mobility of women resulting in enhancement of their overall quality of life. This research takes a descriptive approach to reveal the experience of mobility among urban marginalized women residing …

Human Migration, W. A. V. Clark

Web Book of Regional Science

Human migration affects all regions of our planet: too many persons, or too few, move into, or out of, a place. Studies of migration and mobility are a critical component of understanding population growth and change and subsequent societal problems. This book focuses on substantive empirical results generated in the three decades leading up to publication and organizes them so that the student of population will have a clearer understanding of the nature of migration, its place within demography and population geography, and the implications of population changes through migration. Although the emphasis lies on substantive empirical information, those important …

Design Of An Offline Handwriting Recognition System Tested On The Bangla And Korean Scripts, Nishatul Majid

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a flexible and robust offline handwriting recognition system which is tested on the Bangla and Korean scripts. Offline handwriting recognition is one of the most challenging and yet to be solved problems in machine learning. While a few popular scripts (like Latin) have received a lot of attention, many other widely used scripts (like Bangla) have seen very little progress. Features such as connectedness and vowels structured as diacritics make it a challenging script to recognize. A simple and robust design for offline recognition is presented which not only works reliably, but also can be used for …

Fear Of Blackness And Gentrification Of Black And Brown Neighborhoods In Chicago, Vanessa Ann Hentz

Social Work Theses - Archive

The gentrification of Black and Brown neighborhoods in Chicago is an ongoing process that deserves attention and analysis. The purpose of this scoping review was to determine the factors contributing to the gentrification of Chicago neighborhoods. The purpose included investigating if there is a fear of Blackness associated with the gentrification of Black and Brown neighborhoods. The methodology followed for the scoping review included the recommendations from Arskey & O’Malley’s (1994) Scoping Studies: Towards a Methodological Framework. This methodology included using the research question to gather the relevant articles to chart, summarize, and analyze the results (Arskey & O’Malley 1994). …

Application Of Classification In Machine Learning: An Analysis Of Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Systems Safety, Christopher John Helmer Cox

Theses and Dissertations

Highway-rail grade crossing accidents are the second leading cause of fatalities within the railway transportation industry. Highway-rail grade crossing fatality statistics have failed to improve over the last decade, and in some years have increased. Because of these trends, research has found that considerable Federal funding initiatives exist to support and develop contemporary risk reduction methodologies involving machine learning and artificial intelligence. In accord with these initiatives, this thesis investigates the highway-rail grade crossing safety problem using machine learning to implement an ensemble decision tree-based classification application. The resulting classifier has been validated to achieve a less than three percent …

Accessibility In User Reviews For Mobile Apps: An Automated Detection Approach, Murtaza Tamjeed

Theses

In recent years, mobile accessibility has become an important trend with the goal of allowing all users the possibility of using any app without many restrictions. Recent work demonstrated that user reviews include insights that are useful for app evolution. However, with the increase in the amount of received reviews, manually analyzing them is tedious and time-consuming, especially when searching for accessibility reviews. The goal of this thesis is to support the automated identification of accessibility in user reviews, to help practitioners in prioritizing their handling, and thus, creating more inclusive apps. Particularly, we design a model that takes as …

Connection Between Contaminants And Marine Mammals In The Southern Ocean, Sean W. Tupper

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The Southern Ocean encircles the continent of Antarctica and was once thought to be unaffected by human activities. However, evidence is increasing that this region has many different contaminants that threaten the region’s marine biodiversity, including marine mammals. Many of these contaminants are heavy metals or persistent organic pollutants and enter the Southern Ocean via both natural and anthropogenic processes. The impacts posed by these contaminants vary according to their type and the organism being exposed. All species of cetaceans and pinnipeds in this study were confirmed to have been exposed to one or more the contaminants reviewed. Although research …

Exploring User Interface Improvements For Software Developers Who Are Blind, Guarionex J. Salivia, Flint D. Million, Megan E. Bening

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Software developers who are blind and interact with the computer non-visually face unique challenges with information retrieval. We explore the use of speech and Braille combined with software to provide an improved interface to aid with challenges associated with information retrieval. We motivate our design on common tasks performed by students in a software development course using a Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages (MIPS) architecture simulation tool. We test our interface via a single-subject longitudinal study, and we measure and show improvement in both the user’s performance and the user experience.

Sexual Dimorphism In Host Innate Response To Staphylococcus Aureus: Mechanisms Driving Sex Differences In Immune Cell Function And Host-Directed Interventions, Srijana Pokhrel

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

With the emerging antibiotic resistance, Staphylococcus aureus, primary causative agent of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) as well as other life-threatening conditions has become a global health concern. While factors contributing to host defense against S. aureus SSTIs has been well studied, impact of sex as a variable has not been reported. In Chapter 2, we uncover the sex-specific differences in host response to S. aureus SSTIs and the contribution of female sex hormone, estrogen (E2) in providing protection in females. In Chapter 3, we identify mechanisms of innate differences in neutrophils bactericidal efficacy between sexes and in …

Epidemiology Of Cancers In Men Who Have Sex With Men (Msm): A Protocol For Umbrella Review Of Systematic Reviews, Manoj Kumar Honaryar, Yelena Tarasenko, Maribel Almonte, Vitaly Smelov

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

While earlier studies on men having sex with men (MSM) tended to examine infection-related cancers, an increasing number of studies have been focusing on effects of sexual orientation on other cancers and social and cultural causes for cancer disparities. As a type of tertiary research, this umbrella review (UR) aims to synthesize findings from existing review studies on the effects of sexual orientation on cancer. Relevant peer-reviewed systematic reviews (SRs) will be identified without date or language restrictions using MEDLINE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the International Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews, among others. The research team members will …

American Muslim Women: Who We Are And What We Demand From Feminist Jurisprudence, Mehwish Shaukat

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

It is time for feminist jurisprudence to recognize American Muslim women (AMW) as a distinct and agentic group. For too long, feminist discourse has victimized and objectified Muslim women. Our identities are constructed, deconstructed, and weaponized to suit third party needs; yet, our voices are rarely heard. When feminist legal theories singularly refer to Muslim women in relation to oppression, it harms Muslim women as a group and it attacks the very ethos of the discipline itself. Legal academia trains students to actively interrogate assumptions, but, it curiously treats the oppressed Muslim woman as an irrefutable reality. There is a …

Complicity In The Perversion Of Justice: The Role Of Lawyers In Eroding The Rule Of Law In The Third Reich, Cynthia Fountaine

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

A fundamental tenet of the legal profession is that lawyers and judges are uniquely responsible—individually and collectively—for protecting the Rule of Law. This Article considers the failings of the legal profession in living up to that responsibility during Germany’s Third Reich. The incremental steps used by the Nazis to gain control of the German legal system—beginning as early as 1920 when the Nazi Party adopted a party platform that included a plan for a new legal system—turned the legal system on its head and destroyed the Rule of Law. By failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the profession, …

Developing A Measure Of Blind Patients' Interactions With Their Healthcare Providers, Nazanin M. Heydarian, Osvaldo F. Morera, Scott D. Frankowski

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Background: People who are blind (PWB) are often perceived as being incompetent with common tasks and functions. When patients detect that their healthcare providers (HCPs) have negative perceptions of them, they often report less satisfaction with their healthcare and disengage in their own healthcare.

Objective: A scale assessing the experiences of PWB interacting with HCPs was developed and validated across two studies.

Methods: In Study 1, 144 participants completed the scale and provided feedback. In Study 2, 214 participants completed the scale and 4 additional scales to assess construct validity.

Results: An exploratory factor analysis in Study 1 revealed a …

Predicting Effects Of Climate Change On Productivity And Persistence Of Forest Trees, Russell D. Kramer, H. Roaki Ishii, Kelsey R. Carter, Yuko Miyazaki, Molly A. Cavaleri, Masatake G. Araki, Wakana A. Azuma, Yuta Inoue, Chinatsu Hara

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Global climate change increases uncertainty in sustained functioning of forest ecosystems. Forest canopies are a key link between terrestrial ecosystems, the atmosphere, and climate. Here, we introduce research presented at the 66th meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan in the symposium “Structure and function of forest canopies under climate change.” Old-growth forest carbon stores are the largest and may be the most vulnerable to climate change as the balance between sequestration and emission could easily be tipped. Detailed structural analysis of individual large, old trees shows they are allocating wood to the trunk and crown in patterns that cannot …

A Shield Becomes A Sword: Defining And Deploying A Constitutional Theory For Communities Of Interest In Political Redistricting, Glenn D. Magpantay

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Factors Affecting Metformin And Clomiphene’S Reproductive Efficacy In Pcos Women, Rita J. Poushuju, Ahmed I. El-Mallah, Lama T. Soubra, Lina N. Jarrah

BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogeneous multifactorial disorder in which the ovarian dysfunction is the main cause of an ovulatory infertility. Metformin and Clomiphene Citrate (CC) are two effective drugs to induce ovulation in these patients. The study aimed to ascertain the effect of obesity, serum insulin and free testosterone levels on fertility success with metformin and CC as first line approaches in PCOS. This clinical study was a retrospective multicenter cohort study conducted in nine gynecology and endocrinology clinics. It included (61) PCOS women, aged (18-32) years, having desire to conceive, and free from the study medications for …

Socioeconomic Position And The Health Gradient In Cuba: Dimensions And Mechanisms, Peng Nie, Lanlin Ding, Alfonso Sousa-Poza, Alina Alfonso Leon, Hong Xue, Peng Jia, Liang Wang, Maria Elena Diáz Sánchez, Youfa Wang

ETSU Faculty Works

Background: To throw light on the under-researched association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and health in Cuba, this study examined SEP gradients in health and their underlying mechanisms among urban Cuban adults aged 18-65. Methods: By applying linear regressions to data from the 2010 National Survey on Risk Factors and Chronic Diseases, the analysis explored the SEP-health gradient along three SEP dimensions-education, occupation, and skin colour-using ten health measures: Self-reported health (SRH), general and abdominal obesity, hypertension, high glucose, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, and cumulative risk factors. Regressions also included behaviours and health-related risk perceptions …

Hatching A Plan For Local Communities: Environmental Justice In Poultry Siting Decisions, Diana Stanley

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

One of the implementation problems for environmental justice is reconciling the need to protect public health with the economic realities of struggling communities. This article explores that tension through the lens of siting decisions for large scale poultry operations in rural communities. Poultry siting decisions have major economic and environmental impacts and have been underdiscussed in the environmental justice literature. This article focuses on the role of law and policy in concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) siting— from community benefit agreements to Right to Farm legislation. It uses a Kansas CAFO siting and the wider Kansas experience as a case …

Quantifying The Relative Importance Of Variation In Predation And The Environment For Species Coexistence, Lauren G. Shoemaker, Allison K. Barner, Leonora S. Bittleston, Ashley I. Teufel

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coexistence and food web theory are two cornerstones of the long‐standing effort to understand how species coexist. Although competition and predation are known to act simultaneously in communities, theory and empirical study of these processes continue to be developed largely independently. Here, we integrate modern coexistence theory and food web theory to simultaneously quantify the relative importance of predation and environmental fluctuations for species coexistence. We first examine coexistence in a theoretical, multitrophic model, adding complexity to the food web using machine learning approaches. We then apply our framework to a stochastic model of the rocky intertidal food web, partitioning …

Comparison Of Dna Extracted From Pediatric Saliva, Gingival Crevicular Fluid And Site-Specific Biofilm Samples, Jason Emett, Roxanne David, Jaydene Mcdaniel, Steven Mcdaniel, Karl Kingsley

Dental Medicine Faculty Research

(1) Introduction: Due to the non-invasive nature of saliva, many methods have been used to isolate and collect DNA from saliva samples for microbial screening. Many oral microbes also inhabit the oral biofilm, which may represent significantly different microbial constituents that may contribute to oral health and disease, including caries and periodontal disorders. Moreover, the biofilm may vary within the same patient at different sites. Few studies have evaluated the comparison between DNA isolated from saliva and DNA from site-specific biofilm, with virtually no studies addressing this analysis among pediatric patients. (2) Methods: An existing repository of paper point derived …

Building A Critical Culture: How Critical Librarianship Falls Short In The Workplace, Jennifer A. Ferretti

Communications in Information Literacy

Critical librarianship, or critlib, has made its way into the mainstream of library and information science through conferences, scholarly publications, social media, and other outlets. Over the past 10 years critical library instruction specifically has continued to be a much presented and published topic. Classes and other groups that come through our libraries are opportunities for us to teach, learn, and empower. The care and critical perspectives we bring into the classroom are necessary, but are we also fostering this type of environment in the workplace? Are we doing enough to turn the critical lens on ourselves? As a woman …

Wildlife Connectivity Modeling For The Northern Red-Legged Frog In The Portland Metropolitan Area, Oregon, Amanda Hilary Temple

Dissertations and Theses

Effective habitat connectivity tools that use GIS data perform well in remote areas but may not be as dependable in urban environments. The goal was to study uses and limitations of a conservation management tool in development, the Metro Regional Habitat Connectivity Toolkit, which evaluates connectivity for and permeability of wildlife movement. Habitat quality scores are generated from GIS-derived and field collected data such as connectivity patch/matrix characteristics, water source, vegetation, other structural components, wildlife observations, and human disturbance at survey sites. I compared GIS and field generated habitat quality scores for the Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora) …

Review: Applications Of Bayesian Skyline Plots And Approximate Bayesian Computation For Human Demography, Fernando A. Villanea, Andrew Kitchen, Brian M. Kemp

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Bayesian methods have been adopted by anthropologists for their utility in resolving complex questions about human history based on genetic data. The main advantages of Bayesian methods include simple model comparison, presenting results as a summary of probability distributions, and the explicit inclusion of prior information into analyses. In the field of anthropological genetics, for example, implementing Bayesian skyline plots and approximate Bayesian computation is becoming ubiquitous as means to analyze genetic data for the purpose of demographic or historic inference. Correspondingly, there is a critical need to better understand the underlying assumptions, proper applications, and limitations of these two …