Differing Alterations Of Odor Volatiles Among Pathogenic Stimuli, Patrick Millet, Talia Martin, Maryanne Opiekun, Gary K. Beauchamp, Bruce A. Kimball

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Alterations of the volatile metabolome (the collection of volatiles present in secretions and other emanations) that occur in response to inflammation can be detected by conspecifics and chemometric analyses. Using a model system where mouse urinary metabolites are altered by treatment with lipopolysaccharide (found in the outer cell membrane of gram-negative bacteria), we hypothesized that alteration of body odor volatiles will vary according to the pathogen responsible for inducing the inflammation. We tested this hypothesis by treating mice with different immunogens that engage different immune signaling pathways. Results suggest that alterations of body odor volatiles resulting from inflammation do contain …

Influenza A Virus Surveillance, Infection And Antibody Persistence In Snow Geese (Anser Caerulescens), Susan A. Shriner, J. Jeffrey Root, Jeremy W. Ellis, Kevin T. Bentler, Kaci K. Vandalen, Thomas Gidlewski, Sarah N. Bevins

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Some snow geese (Anser caerulescens) migrate between Eurasia and North America and exhibit high seroprevalence for influenza A viruses (IAVs). Hence, these birds might be expected to play a role in intercontinental dispersal of IAVs. Our objective in this manuscript was to characterize basic incidence and infection characteristics for snow geese to assess whether these birds are likely to significantly contribute to circulation of IAVs. Thus, we 1) estimated snow goose infection prevalence by summarizing > 5,000 snow goose surveillance records, 2) experimentally infected snow geese with a low pathogenic IAV (H4N6) to assess susceptibility and infection dynamics and …

Social Structure Defines Spatial Transmission Of African Swine Fever In Wild Boar, Kim M. Pepin, Andrew J. Golnar, Tomasz Podgórski

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The spatial spread of infectious disease is determined by spatial and social processes such as animal space use and family group structure. Yet, the impacts of social processes on spatial spread remain poorly understood and estimates of spatial transmission kernels (STKs) often exclude social structure. Understanding the impacts of social structure on STKs is important for obtaining robust inferences for policy decisions and optimizing response plans. We fit spatially explicit transmission models with different assumptions about contact structure to African swine fever virus surveillance data from eastern Poland from 2014 to 2015 and evaluated how social structure affected inference of …

Welfare Performance Of Three Foothold Traps For Capturing North American River Otters Lontra Canadensis, Matthew J. Lovallo, H. B. White, J. D. Erb, M. S. Peek, Thomas J. Deliberto

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Foothold traps are effective tools for the live capture and restraint of wildlife for management and research. Successful river otter Lontra canadensis restoration programs throughout North America used them extensively. Restoration programs used a variety of methods and models of foothold traps, but comprehensive efforts to describe and quantify injuries associated with river otter captures have been limited. We evaluated injuries of river otters caught in three commercially available models of foothold traps including the number 11 double long-spring with standard jaws, the number 11 double long-spring with double jaws, and the number 2 coil-spring trap. Based on examinations of …

Occurrence Of Mesocarnivores In Montane Sky Islands: How Spatial And Temporal Overlap Informs Rabies Management In A Regional Hotspot, Amanda M. Veals, John Koprowski, David L. Bergman, Kurt C. Vercauteren, David B. Wester

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Interspecific interactions among mesocarnivores can influence community dynamics and resource partitioning. Insights into these interactions can enhance understanding of local ecological processes that have impacts on pathogen transmission, such as the rabies lyssavirus. Host species ecology can provide an important baseline for disease management strategies especially in biologically diverse ecosystems and heterogeneous landscapes. We used a mesocarnivore guild native to the southwestern United States, a regional rabies hotspot, that are prone to rabies outbreaks as our study system. Gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), bobcats (Lynx rufus), and coyotes (Canis latrans) share large portions of their geographic ranges …

Scaup Depredation On Arkansas Baitfish And Sportfish Aquaculture, Stephen A. Clements, Brian S. Dorr, J. Brian Davis, Luke A. Roy, Carole R. Engle, Katie C. Hanson-Dorr, Anita M. Kelly

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) and greater scaup (A. marila), hereafter scaup, consume a variety of aquatic invertebrates, plants, and occasionally small fish. Scaup have foraged on commercial aquaculture farms in the southern United States for decades. However, the types, abundance, and rate of fish exploitation by scaup on baitfish and sportfish farms are not well documented. Thus, information is needed to understand how fish and other foods influence scaup use of aquatic resources, and any potential economic effects of depredation of fish. From November–March in winters 2016–2017 and 2017–2018, we conducted 1,458 pond surveys to estimate …

Sars-Cov-2 Exposure In Wild White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus), Jeffrey C. Chandler, Sarah N. Bevins, Jeremy W. Ellis, Timothy J. Linder, Rachel M. Tell, Melinda Jenkins-Moore, J. Jeffrey Root, Julianna B. Lenoch, Suelee Robbe-Austerman, Thomas J. Deliberto, Tom Gidlewski, Mia Kim Torchetti, Susan A. Shriner

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Widespread human SARS-CoV-2 infections combined with human–wildlife interactions create the potential for reverse zoonosis from humans to wildlife. We targeted white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) for serosurveillance based on evidence these deer have angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors with high affinity for SARS-CoV-2, are permissive to infection, exhibit sustained viral shedding, can transmit to conspecifics, exhibit social behavior, and can be abundant near urban centers. We evaluated 624 prepandemic and postpandemic serum samples from wild deer from four US states for SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Antibodies were detected in 152 samples (40%) from 2021 using a surrogate virus neutralization test. A subset of samples …

Impact Of Covid-19 On The Us And Texas Economy: A General Equilibrium Approach, Lirong Liu, Steven S. Shwiff, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Maryfrances Miller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on the US and Texas economy using a computable general equilibrium model, REMI PI+. We consider three scenarios based on economic forecasts from various sources, including the University of Michigan’s RSQE (Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics), IMF, and the Wi orld Bank. We report a GDP loss of $106 million (a 6% decline) with 1.2 million jobs lost (6.6%) in Texas in 2020. At the national level, GDP loss is $996 billion (a 5% decline) with 11.5 million jobs lost (5.5%) in the same year. By 2026, the aggregate total GDP loss in …

Using Object-Based Image Analysis To Detect Laughing Gull Nests, Benjamin F. Martini, Douglas A. Miller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Remote sensing has long been used to study wildlife; however, manual methods of detecting wildlife in aerial imagery are often time-consuming and prone to human error, and newer computer vision techniques have not yet been extensively applied to wildlife surveys. We used the object-based image analysis (OBIA) software eCognition to detect laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) nests in Jamaica Bay as part of an ongoing monitoring effort at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Our technique uses a combination of high resolution 4-band aerial imagery captured via manned aircraft with a multispectral UltraCam Falcon M2 camera, LiDAR point cloud data, and …

Detection Of Two Dissimilar Chronic Wasting Disease Isolates In Two Captive Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus Canadensis) Herds: Two Distinctive Chronic Wasting Disease Isolates Identified In Captive Elk, Tracy A. Nichols, Eric M. Nicholson, Yihui Liu, Wanyin Tao, Terry R. Spraker, Michael Lavelle, Justin W. Fischer, Qingzhong Kong, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to spread in both wild and captive cervid herds in North America and has now been identified in wild reindeer and moose in Norway, Finland and Sweden. There is limited knowledge about the variety and characteristics of isolates or strains of CWD that exist in the landscape and their implications on wild and captive cervid herds. In this study, we evaluated brain samples from two captive elk herds that had differing prevalence, history and timelines of CWD incidence. Site 1 had a 16-year history of CWD with a consistently low prevalence between 5% and 10%. …

Environmental Dna For Conservation, Antoinette J. Piaggio

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Biodiversity must be documented before it can be conserved. However, it may be difficult to document species with few individuals (Thompson, 2013; Goldberg et al., 2016), thus it requires a multitude of tools to detect species that occur in low numbers or are elusive (see the various chapters in this volume). One tool that has become useful for conservation efforts utilizes environmental DNA, which is DNA shed into the environment by organisms (eDNA; Taberlet et al., 2018). Typically this involves taking environmental samples such as soil, water, air, or using biological surrogates for sampling biodiversity (e.g. leeches, sponges, carrion flies, …

Allometric Regression Of Snake Body Length From Head Image Measurements, Shane R. Siers

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

As in many fields of wildlife research and management, camera devices and photogrammetry have become an integral part of the toolkit for exploring otherwise‐unseen aspects of the biology, behavior, and control of the invasive brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) on Guam. Because brown treesnakes are cryptic and nocturnal, and nearly all aspects of their ecology are influenced by snake size, methods are needed to estimate snake size from images captured by infrared wildlife cameras. Unfortunately, it is difficult to capture images of an entire snake’s length at a controlled distance from a simple camera setup. Here, I describe the …

Conflict, Coexistence, Or Both? Cougar Habitat Selection, Prey Composition, And Mortality In A Multiple-Use Landscape, David C. Stoner, Mark A. Ditmer, Dustin L. Mitchell, Julie K. Young, Michael L. Wolfe

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Western North America is experiencing remarkable human population growth and land-use change. Irrigation and associated cultivation have led to colonization of urban-wildland interface (UWI) environments by mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and consequently, cougars (Puma concolor). In the wake of these changes, human-wildlife conflicts have increased in tandem with questions about long-term species conservation. To address these concerns, we fit 79 cougars with radio-telemetry collars in the Oquirrh Mountains near Salt Lake City, Utah (2002–2010). Our goal was to evaluate variation in cougar habitat selection, diet, and cause-specific mortality in a landscape dominated by urban, military, and industrial activities. We used …

College Recruitment Of Low-Income Underrepresented Minority Students, Cassady M. Ogedegbe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between the use of discriminatory recruitment procedures against low-income unrepresented minority (URM) students at four-year private institutions based on enrollment managers’ and college recruiters’ beliefs, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions was this study’s focus. Specifically, the following were investigated: (a) how enrollment managers perceive their role in recruiting low-income URM students, (b) how college recruiters understand their role in recruiting low-income URM students, (c) the effective strategies enrollment managers use to prepare recruiters for recruiting low-income URM students, and (d) the differential impact in recruiting low-income URM students versus their counterparts. A supporting factor explored further in this study …

Self-Exciting Point Process For Modelling Terror Attack Data, Siyi Wang

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Terrorism becomes more rampant in recent years because of separatism and extreme nationalism, which brings a serious threat to the national security of many countries in the world. The analysis of spatial and temporal patterns of terror data is significant in containing terrorism. This thesis focuses on building and applying a temporal point process called self-exciting point process to fit the terror data from 1970 to 2018 of 10 countries. The data come from the Global Terrorism database. Further, an application in predicting the number of terror events based on the self-exciting model is another main innovative idea, in which …

Neighbouring Horizons: Migration, Squatting, And Citizenship In São Paulo, Diana Zacca Thomaz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the shared struggles and political horizons of citizens and non-citizens living together in squatted buildings in central São Paulo, Brazil. Building on six months of ethnographic fieldwork, it focuses on the coalition forged between the MSTC (Movimento Sem Teto do Centro, i.e. Central São Paulo Roofless Movement) and international migrants and asylum-seekers who have taken up residence in the movement’s squats. This dissertation argues that the problem of political subjectivity and belonging at the urban margins is deeply shaped by the struggles for adequate housing. Further, that looking at the divergent aspirations and claims-making of …

Visual Perception And Action In Reaching During Upper Limb Obstacle Avoidance, Nondon Chakraborty

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

During everyday activities, people reach to specific objects with their hands and avoid obstacles. For people to move successfully through an obstacle gap, it is necessary to be able to accurately perceive the actions that the surroundings afford and adjust hand movements accordingly. Reaching behaviours, including planning (perception) and execution (action), depend on visual information. This study aimed to understand and detect the differences between perceptual judgment and actual performance of both hands during a reaching task at the time of obstacle avoidance by using a hand-scaled approach. Participants were young adults (male (n=7) and female (n=10) aged 18 to …

Stories From The Rainbow Road: 2slgbtqia+ Identified Youth And Service Provider Experiences Of Mental Health Service Delivery In The Province Of Newfoundland And Labrador, Kathleen De Jong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

Stories from the Rainbow Road: 2SLGBTQIA+ Identified Youth and Service Provider Experiences of Mental Health Service Delivery in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

The purpose of this research project was to understand how publicly funded mental health service provision to 2SLGBTQIA+ identified youth in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is influenced by cis and heteronormativity. In a review of the associated literature, there is a notable focus on the barriers to mental health services experienced by queer and trans youth in general; however, there is very little information about the actual service delivery experiences of those …

Exploring The Perspectives Of Service Providers Who Assist Men Subjected To Intimate Partner Violence, Abigail White

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been largely associated with male perpetrators and female victims (Drijber, Reijnders & Ceelen, 2013). Although women are more likely to be victims of IPV, men are also victimized at the hands of their intimate partners (Statistics Canada, 2013). As such, academic literature has tended to focus on the experiences of women subjected to IPV while the experiences of men subjected to IPV remain under explored (Machado, Santos, Graham-Kaven, & Matos, 2017). The limited literature pertaining to the experiences of men has consistently found that men are largely dissatisfied with help-seeking services. Another consistent finding within …

From Tajikistan To Russia And Back: Understanding Changes In Gender Relations Through The Lived Experiences Of Tajik Migrant Workers In Russia, Tahmina Shokirova

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation is the story of Tajik migrant workers who have lived and worked in Russia. It examines how gender relations of power change in the context of labour migration through the lived experiences of the migrants. The study asks the overarching research question: How do gender relations change in the context of Tajik labour migration to Russia? Following the social constructionist epistemology, gender is framed through the lens of post-structural, intersectional, and transnational feminist theories. The study employs a conceptual framework that integrates the following into a coherent whole: feminist theories of gender relations, the general context of international …

Exploring The Relationship Between Dog Ownership, Physical Activity, And Mental Health, Stephanie Ho, Jennifer Robertson-Wilson, Mark Eys

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The physical and mental health benefits of regular physical activity have been well-documented (e.g., Reiner et al., 2013; White et al., 2017). Additionally, owning a dog is associated with positive health outcomes as owners are encouraged to walk. Dogs are also a source of comfort during stressful times for those in their presence (e.g., Brown & Rhodes, 2006; Westgarth et al., 2017). The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between dog ownership, physical activity, and mental health among the university student population. Over 500 university students completed questionnaires assessing their demographic information, mental health, dog ownership status, …

How Do You Talk To Yourself? – The Effects Of Pronoun Usage And Interpersonal Qualities Of Self-Talk, Sonya M. Bisol

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

Self-talk is defined as an inner voice that addresses the self, usually silently but sometimes aloud, with content that is self-relevant. In two studies, this work investigates the pronouns people use within their self-talk, classified by a newly developed pronoun coding scheme, and the interpersonal qualities of self-talk, characterized by an interpersonal framework. For each study we also explore how pronoun usage and interpersonal self-talk styles relate to each other, and to other important variables that pertain to the possible causes and effects of self-talk. In our first study, 131 participants completed a structured interview in which they provided …

Developing Population Control Strategies For Wild Boar Management In Canada, Amanda Wong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

DEVELOPING POPULATION CONTROL STRATEGIES FOR WILD BOAR MANAGEMENT IN CANADA

Amanda Wong Advisor: Scott Slocombe

Wilfrid Laurier University 2020

Canada’s landscape faces major threats from the growing wild boar (Sus scrofa) population, whose current presence predominantly threatens the Prairie provinces. Globally it has become apparent that wild boars are robust animals with high reproductive rates and destructive behaviours in both their native and non-native ranges. This paper analyzes wild boar management strategies that have been conducted around the world to identify the most effective tools, and those that were unsuccessful. The wild boars in Canada are hybridized …

What Is Canada Doing? An Analysis Of Canadian University Sexual Violence Policies, Konnor Legault

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As social awareness of the prevalence of sexual violence on university campuses has increased, it is important to understand the role of university policies in providing protection and support for the campus community and people affected by sexual violence. The purpose of this research is to analyze and compare Sexual Violence Policies (SVP) from four Canadian universities. The analysis evaluates the comprehensiveness of the policies and considers how power, and ideas of power are embedded within SVPs. Findings suggest that policies are at times comprehensive, but may be missing important information, such as including an Objectives section in the policies. …

Three Essays On The Interface Of Sales And Operations Management, Sara Babaee

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation investigates three profit maximization models for coordinating Sales and Operations (S\&OP) management.

The first problem considers implementing a customer education strategy for the digital channel users of a multi-channel service provider. Using a customer network flow model, I investigate the effect of customer education in the digital channel on the number of users of digital and in-person channels. Further, I define a customer value metric that characterizes the optimal level of education effort. Finally, I determine conditions under which the effect of positive word-of-mouth regarding the quality of education dominates the lifetime value of customers.

The second problem …

Invisible Wounds: Assessing The Awareness Of Moral Injury Among Toronto Police, Daniel Saugh

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Moral injury is believed to exist within the Canadian Police Services though it is difficult to recognize and is usually ignored. The research data emerging from military and first responders (i.e., police, firefighters, and EMS personnel) reveal the effects of moral injury and its implications for mental and spiritual health as it persists throughout the life and career of those affected.

This study investigates how moral injury may emerge from a potentially traumatic event(s) and/or psychological trauma and/or independent from such trauma and how moral injury may come to exist in members of the Toronto Police Service, as well as …

Binary Black Widow Optimization Algorithm For Feature Selection Problems, Ahmed Al-Saedi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis addresses feature selection (FS) problems, which is a primary stage in data mining. FS is a significant pre-processing stage to enhance the performance of the process with regards to computation cost and accuracy to offer a better comprehension of stored data by removing the unnecessary and irrelevant features from the basic dataset. However, because of the size of the problem, FS is known to be very challenging and has been classified as an NP-hard problem. Traditional methods can only be used to solve small problems. Therefore, metaheuristic algorithms (MAs) are becoming powerful methods for addressing the FS problems. …

Working Joblessness: Young People Deploying 21st Century Skills In Post-Conflict Liberia And Sierra Leone, Frances Fortune

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In Liberia, state economic development policies based on the resource extractive industry's short-term needs have produced too few job opportunities for young people. The development policies have failed to grow the private sector to create jobs, recognize the importance of urbanization, or expand the informal economy's contribution to employment in urban areas. As a result, young people are obliged to use their creativity and digital connections to make a living outside of the normative models of work using an organic social process of bricolage. Bricolage is a type of entrepreneurship or a form of action which can occur in resource-scare …

The Experiences Of Women Who Have A Child Diagnosed With An Eating Disorder: A Narrative Inquiry, Jennifer Scarborough

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious, life-threatening illnesses that typically occur in adolescence. Immediate intervention is necessary in order to interrupt the associated behaviours. Typically, adolescents struggling with EDs minimize the severity the illness has on their psychological and physiological wellbeing. For this reason, family involvement in the intervention is strongly recommended. Additionally, family involvement has shown to increase the likelihood of better outcomes. Parents are typically tasked with the responsibility of making and monitoring meals and/or interrupting compensatory behaviours. These tasks often lead to high conflict. Despite the importance of parental involvement, predominantly, it is mothers who fulfill the intensive …

Characterizing Boreal Shield Lakes And Catchments To Predict Dissolved Organic Carbon Concentration And Composition In Relation To Safe Drinking Water Sources With Minimal Disinfection By-Products, Jordyn Atkins

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Many Canadians rely on surface water sources for drinking water, most of which is disinfected with chlorine. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) can react with chlorine to form potentially carcinogenic disinfection by-products (DBPs). The concentration and composition of DOC influences the type and amount of DBP formed.

Lake water varies widely in DOC concentration and composition as a result of the surrounding landscape that influences the terrestrial load of DOC to lakes and the extent of in-lake processing of DOC. Twenty-seven lakes of similar lake size but with varying catchment sizes over several orders of magnitude created a unique opportunity to …