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Unlocking Over A Decade Of Insights: Large Bull Shark (Carcharhinus Leucas) Movement Behaviors In The Western North Atlantic Ocean, Jasmine D. Nyce

Fisheries

Marine predators, particularly elasmobranch species like bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas), play crucial roles in maintaining marine ecosystems but face threats due to anthropogenic impacts and global climate change. Management and conservation of these species incorporate an understanding of their movement behaviors and spatial distribution, which is currently understudied for large bull sharks in the Western North Atlantic (WNA). Therefore, this thesis focuses on understanding bull shark movement patterns in the WNA, including pregnant females. We first examine the movement behaviors of bull sharks from 2009 to 2023 using extensive passive acoustic telemetry data from the Bimini Biological Field Station (BBFS) …

Direct And Cascading Effects Of Sea Star Wasting On Rocky Intertidal Communities, Mack Hughes

Marine Biology

Predation is an important driver of rocky intertidal community structure. Top predators like sea stars often regulate competitive species like barnacles and mussels by preying on them, which maintains ecosystem diversity. Fluctuations of top predators can have cascading effects in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments, often resulting in the restructuring of communities and ecosystems into alternative states. Sea star wasting (SSW) was a large-scale disturbance, starting in 2013 in the East Pacific Ocean and ranging from Alaska to Mexico, that removed sea stars from the rocky intertidal. While recovery has been ongoing in many places, community-wide effects may persist in …

Characterizing Ocean Change Impacts On Three Marine Species Vital To Recreational, Subsistence, And Commercial Fisheries In Alaska, Marina Washburn Alcantar

Marine Biology

Global climate change, facilitated by increased greenhouse gas production, is driving physical and chemical alterations to the marine environment, including a long-term decrease in oceanic pH, referred to as ocean acidification (OA), and an increase in global marine temperature, referred to as ocean warming (OW). Alterations to the chemistry and temperature of the marine environment may result in bottom-up community restructuring mediated by changes in food web dynamics. In Alaska, there are many species-specific knowledge gaps, thus necessitating an assessment of the potential sensitivity of said species to climate change-related conditions. Pacific razor clams (Siliqua patula), bidarkis (Katharina tunicata), and …

Sea Otter Interactions With Mariculture Oyster Farms, Emily Reynolds

Marine Biology

Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are considered a keystone species and can be found around mariculture oyster farms. While oyster farms and sea otters have been coexisting in some locations, sustaining these farms, and the growing interest in expanding them, necessitates a comprehensive evaluation of potential interactions. Here, sea otter interactions with oyster farms were assessed through behavioral observations (i.e., activity and foraging dives) in oyster farms, adjacent non-farm areas (controls), and bays with no farming activity (references). Behavioral observations, conducted through scan surveys, captured sea otter activities (e.g., resting, grooming, swimming, and foraging). Targeted foraging observations tracked foraging success and …

Effect Of Macroalgae Diet On Growth Rate And Nutrition Of The Pinto Abalone, Haliotis Kamtschatkana, James Crimp

Marine Biology

Developing methods for the cultivation of the pinto abalone, Haliotis kamtschatkana, has seen increased attention, both by groups using restoration aquaculture to reestablish endangered populations in Washington and British Columbia, and in the State of Alaska, where pinto abalone are viewed as a promising new species for commercial mariculture. To enhance the viability of cultivating H. kamtschatkana for commercial and restoration purposes, more information is needed on the optimal macroalgal diet that maximizes abalone growth and nutrition. This study compares the suitability of two commonly cultivated species of macroalgae as feed: Saccharina Iatissima, a kelp with relatively low protein content, …

Up For The Challenge: Advancing Social Justice, Dominique P. Mcmurray

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

MSW Portfolio: A Comprehensive Showcase of Academic Work and Achievements

This paper demonstrates the professional development during the Master of Social Work program at the University of Montana. It illustrates the mastery of 5 elements of integrated practice, 9 competencies outlined by the Council on Social Work Education, and one University of Montana-specific competency.

Msw Portfolio, Tasha Clark

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Msw Portfolio, Olivia Calvi

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Professional Portfolio: A Social Work Journey Through The 10 Competencies, Tessa Rae Nelson

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The Professional Portfolio demonstrates Tessa Nelson's work through the 10 competencies of social work. This portfolio emphasizes what the student has learned and how it has impacted their social work practice.

Msw Portfolio, Kandice C. Mitchell

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Social Work Portfolio for Masters Program

Msw Portfolio From The Lens Of A Clinical Social Worker, Madeliene Hamilton

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

My portfolio is an in-depth exploration at the journey that has led me here to my MSW with a comprehensive outline of my practicum and work experiences alongside coursework. My hope to anyone who reads this is that you can see my passion for this work and truly understand how each competency was learned and practice.

Synergistic Activation By Glass And Pointed Promotes Neuronal Identity In The Drosophila Eye Disc, Hongsu Wang, Komal Kumar Bollepogu Raja, Kelvin Yeung, Carolyn A Morrison, Antonia Terrizzano, Alireza Khodadadi-Jamayran, Phoenix Chen, Ashley Jordan, Cornelia Fritsch, Simon G Sprecher, Graeme Mardon, Jessica E Treisman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The integration of extrinsic signaling with cell-intrinsic transcription factors can direct progenitor cells to differentiate into distinct cell fates. In the developing Drosophila eye, differentiation of photoreceptors R1-R7 requires EGFR signaling mediated by the transcription factor Pointed, and our single-cell RNA-Seq analysis shows that the same photoreceptors require the eye-specific transcription factor Glass. We find that ectopic expression of Glass and activation of EGFR signaling synergistically induce neuronal gene expression in the wing disc in a Pointed-dependent manner. Targeted DamID reveals that Glass and Pointed share many binding sites in the genome of developing photoreceptors. Comparison with transcriptomic data shows …

Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Of The Head And Neck: Pathological Features And What They Mean For Prognosis And Treatment, Uma Ramesh, Elizabeth Chiang, Haleigh Stafford, Jane Buell, Frank Materia, Moran Amit, Dan Yaniv

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Simple Summary

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) of the head and neck, although treatable, can be highly aggressive. Certain pathological features of cSCC can drastically impact prognosis. Therefore, the presence of a few such features is considered in both staging and treating cSCC. In this review, we summarize the current literature regarding pathological prognostic indicators of cSCC, including depth of invasion, surgical margins, perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, extranodal extension, tumor grade, tumor subtype, premalignant lesions, and molecular markers. Furthermore, we characterize the impact of each indicator on clinical outcomes of head and neck cSCC, their role in dictating adjuvant therapy …

Towards Reciprocity In Common Ravens, Corvus Corax, Near Anthropogenic Food Sources In Interior Alaska During Winter, Amelia Rose Beausoleil

Biological Sciences

Ravens, Corvus corax, and other corvids are intelligent birds that are the focus of many studies, such as in-depth dives into potential facial recognition and tool use to name a few. Despite these numerous behavioral studies, ravens lack an accessible basic universal ethogram and have rarely been observed in their undisturbed, natural state. Due to this, my study focuses on free-roaming common raven behavior in Fairbanks, Alaska, for which I utilize exploratory analysis to identify patterns in collected data. In doing so, I show how data mining and machine learning can further support behavior research with a systems perspective in …

Lessons From The Old School: Phenological Responses Of The Horsetail Equisetum Arvense To Experimental Air And Soil Warming In Interior Alaskan Boreal Forest, Will Q. Hendricks

Biological Sciences

Although there are many studies on plant phenological shifts due to climate change, few of them focus on the phenological responses of seedless vascular plant species to warming climate. The boreal forest biome contains ~ 30% of the carbon stored by forests globally and horsetails with their circumboreal distribution are abundant in the boreal forest. Understanding the phenological response of horsetails to warming air and the timing of ground thaw is an important component for understanding how much carbon will be fixed by plants in the boreal biome in the future warmer climate. To examine the effects of air and …

Survival, Harvest, And Abundance Of Waterfowl Populations Using Tag-Recoveries, Harvest Data, And Bayesian Estimation, Cody Deane

Biological Sciences

Annual harvest, survival, and abundance are three of the most monitored vital rates of waterfowl populations in North America. Annual harvest and survival probabilities are estimated from harvest tag-recovery data, which is a form of capture-mark-recapture data, while abundance estimation varies with species. While tag-recovery models were parameterized over 30 years ago, modern applications of these models often estimate harvest and survival probabilities as random effects drawn from Normal distributions. We evaluated tag-recovery models for reliable parameter estimation relative to different 1) monitoring scenarios varying by total individuals tagged annually, 2) prior distributions for the standard deviations of random effects, …

Divergence And Adaptation In Beringian Birds, Caitlyn C. Oliver Brown

Biological Sciences

Beringia is a high-latitude hotspot of avian divergence and speciation. The unique biogeography of Beringia impacted avian speciation in two ways: through the cyclic appearance of the land bridge between the Asian and North American continents and through glacial refugia. These cyclic processes repeatedly split and connected avian populations, alternately reducing and increasing opportunities for gene flow between populations. In this thesis, I examine how this dynamic system impacted Beringian avian taxa using population genomic analyses. First, I examine broad patterns of divergence and gene flow across 11 lineages of birds using ultraconserved elements (UCEs), which are a multi-locus subsampling …

The Effect Of Permafrost Thaw On Merucry- And Methane-Cycling Microbes And Their Potential Interactions, Rebecca Olson

Biological Sciences

In this study, I investigated potential interactions between methane and mercury cycles in boreal forest soils. Additionally, I examined the changes in these cycles relative to shifts in soil moisture along an environmental soil moisture gradient. This investigation is pertinent due to the escalating rate of permafrost thaw driven by climate change in Arctic and subarctic ecosystems. Permafrost thaw leads to increased soil moisture, fostering favorable conditions for anaerobic microbial processes such as mercury methylation, methanogenesis, and anaerobic methanotrophy. Microbial mercury methylation creates monomethylmercury, a neurotoxin that accumulates in aquatic food webs. Methane cycling results in the production of greenhouse …

Body Condition Of Pacific Common Eiders Breeding Along The Beaufort Sea Coast Of Alaska, Elyssa M. Watford

Biological Sciences

Pacific common eiders (Somateria mollissima v-nigrum; common eiders) are capital breeding seaducks that fast throughout their ~26 day incubation period. The incubation fast includes three metabolic phases: (I) a transition from feeding to using energy stored during the pre-breeding season, (II) the use of stored lipids for energy, and (III) the use of stored protein for energy as lipid reserves near depletion. With limited energy reserves for incubation, common eiders are more vulnerable to factors that increase the metabolic demands of reproduction, such as climate change or disturbance. We assessed the following metrics of body condition: mass, packed-cell volume, β-hydroxybutyrate, …

Adaptive Strategies And Energetic Profiles Of Bacteria In Permafrost And Temperate Environments: A Comparative Study, Hannah Woody

Biological Sciences

Exploring microbial life in extreme conditions has not only challenged our definition of habitability but is expanding our understanding of where extraterrestrial life may occur. Permafrost, which covers approximately 27% of Earth’s surface, offers a unique window into microbial resilience in an extreme sub-zero environment, which is considered analogous to environments found on icy planets like Mars. Despite such harsh conditions, permafrost sustains diverse and active microbial communities. However, the energy dynamics and genomic adaptations that enable their survival remain largely unexplored. Here, we compare the maintenance energy requirements and genomic traits of permafrost-derived bacteria with bacteria from temperate environments …

Social Learning In Individuals With Autism, Benjamin Ellis

The Kabod

Honors Petition submitted to PSYC 365-001: Psychological Foundations of Learning.

Time-Transgressive Microbial Diversity In A Tropical Bat Guano Accumulation, Deer Cave, Mulu, Borneo, Joyce Lundberg, Donald A. Mcfarlane

International Journal of Speleology

Bat guano accumulations in caves can constitute large deposits of organic material, particularly chitin and its degradation products, that host a diverse microbiome. Previous microbiological studies have not addressed the stratified nature of these deposits in the context of the timeframe of the decomposition process. We present such data (temperature, pH, DNA sampling of eight carbon-dated strata) for a 75 cm-deep tropical guano accumulation that undergoes complete decomposition over a timescale of ~120 years. The aerobic, surface layer of freshly-fallen guano has the greatest diversity of taxa, with Bacteroidota co-dominant with Pseudomonadota, and includes many taxa unique to this …

Companion Dogs And Depression, Anxiety, And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Adult Icu Survivors: A Scoping Review, Lindsey Nelson, Sue Lasiter, Amanda Emerson

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Intensive care unit (ICU) survivors are at risk for developing persistent psychological sequelae that have been linked to decreased quality of life and increased mortality after hospital discharge. Standardized evidence-based treatments are lacking, mainly focus on physical rather than psychological recovery, and often occur in formal settings. Benefits of human– companion dog relationships have not been explored in the ICU survivor population before. Thus, the purposes of our review were to summarize the literature focused on the influence of companion dogs on depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); identify what is known about the potential role companion dogs play …

Effect Of 90-Day Oral Administration Of Ginger Extract On Hormonal, Haematological And Biochemical Parameters Of Wistar Rats: A Toxicity Study, Musa I. Yakubu, Abdulfatai A. Jimoh, Iliyasu K. Uwais, Ahmed A. Danbala, Micah Timothy, Medinat Y. Abbas, Ben A. Chindo

Bulletin of Faculty of Pharmacy Cairo University

The study aimed to investigate the effects of long-term consumption of high doses of ginger extract on various parameters in Wistar rats. The study followed OECD 408 testing guidelines and administered oral aqueous ginger extract at doses of 500, 1,000, and 2,000 mg/kg body weight to the rats for 90 days. The rats were euthanized on the 91st day, blood samples collected for biochemical analysis. The ginger extract did not significantly affect haematological, endocrine and oxidative stress parameters. In conclusion, the extract did not result in haematological or endocrine toxicity in rats but positively reduced body weight and cholesterol levels.

Interfamilial Childhood Sexual Abuse, Emilie Potter

Master of Arts in Human Services

The purpose and intent of this capstone project is to spread light onto the very important, and often very taboo, topic of interfamilial childhood sexual abuse. This research aims to cover all bases of interfamilial childhood sexual abuse from the why’s, to the aftermath and care of the victims. The overall goal of addressing the issue of childhood sexual abuse within the family unit would be prevention of its occurrence. To prevent this from continuing to happen to so many children, there needs to be a full understanding of the entire situation from beginning to end. We need to look …

Sex- And Age-Specific Differences In Mice Fed A Ketogenic Diet, Kenyon W. Sprankle, Mya Knappenberger, Erica J. Locke, Jack Thompson, Madison Vinovrski, Kaylin Knapsack, Stephen C. Kolwicz Jr.

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

The ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that results in the elevation of serum ketone bodies, known as ketosis. This metabolic consequence has been suggested as a method for treating neurological conditions, improving exercise performance, and facilitating weight loss for overweight individuals. However, since most research primarily uses male populations, little is known about the potential sex differences during the consumption of the KD. In addition, the effects of the KD on aging are relatively unexplored. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore sex- and age-specific differences in mice fed the KD. Male and female C57BL/6N …

Quantification Of Immunometabolite Derived Protein Modifications During Mitochondrial Metabolic Stress, Justin Hunter Cox

Theses and Dissertations

The immunometabolite itaconate accumulates during lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation of macrophages and microglia. Itaconate non-enzymatically reacts with cysteine residues to generate 2,3-dicarboxypropylcysteine (2,3-DCP), referred to as protein dicarboxypropylation. The tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolite fumarate non-enzymatically reacts with the amino acid cysteine to form S-(2-succino)-cysteine (2SC), resulting in irreversible protein succination. Since fumarate and itaconate levels dynamically change in activated immune cells, the levels of both 2SC and 2,3-DCP reflect the abundance of these metabolites and their capacity to modify protein structure and function. I generated esters of 2SC and 2,3-DCP from protein hydrolysates and used stable isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem …

Teacher-Researcher As Indicator: Developing A Third Space For Newcomer Youth In A Secondary Classroom, Gabriel Andres Chen Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

This paper was written to reveal answers to the Problem of Practice identified at the site school as it has experienced a steady growth in newcomer multilingual learners. This minority-majority group of students at the school have underperformed academically despite the use of varied teaching strategies. In an effort to help newcomer students through intentional sheltered instruction, I held the believe that as a former multilingual learner now serving as their classroom teacher, I could be an indicator for the classroom allowing me to realize there may be hopes, needs, and attitudes that were hidden from current pedagogical practices.

In …

Role Of Misogynous Rap Music On African American Married Millennials, Louisa Antwanett Parker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study explored the influence of misogynistic rap music on self-image and objectification within the context of African American married millennials. Grounded in exposure theory and objectification theory, the study adopted a quantitative nonexperimental design. Data were collected from a sample of 101 participants while exploring how exposure to misogynistic music might shape individuals' self-perceptions and views of their partners, potentially contributing to adverse relationship outcomes such as domestic violence and infidelity. The survey instruments encompassed the Exposure Measurement Scale, Self-Objectification Scale (SOS), Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBSC), Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS), Self-Image Scale (SIS-D), Music Preference Questionnaire (MPQ-R), and …

Investigating The Potential Of Mdivi-1 In Mitigating The Harmful Effects Of Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein On Monocyte Functions And The Impact Of Oxldl On Monocyte Senescence Markers, Negin Mosalmanzadeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Cardiovascular diseases, particularly atherosclerosis, pose significant health risks due to their association with endothelial dysfunction and chronic inflammation. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) plays a pivotal role in atherosclerosis by inducing foam cell formation and promoting inflammatory responses in monocytes. This study investigates the impact of OxLDL on monocyte functions, specifically focusing on metabolic changes, inflammatory responses, and cellular senescence. Additionally, we explore the potential of Mdivi-1, a mitochondrial division inhibitor, in mitigating the detrimental effects of OxLDL. Human monocytes were treated with OxLDL, resulting in increased glycolytic activity, elevated expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and CXCL8), and significant foam cell …