Genomic studies of contemporary processes in wild populations

Genomic tools can greatly facilitate our understanding of wild populations. For the purposes of ecology and conservation, the most pertinent insights into wild populations are those that are contemporary. Much of the genetic-based research on wild populations has been derived from a population genetic framework resulting in historically derived summary statistics. These statistics are undoubtedly useful for understanding things such as effective dispersal and population structuring. However, they provide little indication to processes affecting populations within existing generations. One way to overcome this is to work at the individual level and consolidate the findings to improve understanding at the population level. For individual-based genetic studies, it is essential to be able to identify unique individuals and obtain reliable inferences of relatedness. Molecular markers must therefore possess qualities that make them suitable for identifying individuals and inferring relatedness between them. This dissertation first describes the development of a set of 96 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) designed to infer relatedness between individuals in the Scandinavian brown bear population. The SNPs were used to study three contemporary features through relatedness inferences and pedigree reconstruction based on noninvasively collected samples: population size, natal dispersal distances, and fine-scale spatial structuring. These three studies are all based on new methods, one developed by Creel and Rosenblatt (2013) but empirically tested here, and the other two first developed for this dissertation. Using these methods, I successfully identified contemporary characteristics of a wild population. These methods can easily be applied to other species of ecological and conservation interest

De novo sequencing and SNP discovery in the Scandinavian brown bear (Ursus arctos)

Development of molecular markers that are well-suited for use in studies on wildlife dispersal can greatly enhance conservation efforts of species affected by climate change and human-induced landscape alterations. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are a promising marker for such studies; however, development of SNPs in non-model species with limited or no sequence data can be challenging. This study addresses these challenges in a unique way. Reduced representation libraries (RRL) of ten individual brown bears representing the geographic range in Sweden were high-throughput sequenced on one lane of the Illumina HiSeq2000, yielding reads 100 bases in length. These reads were filtered and processed following two methods: assembly using ABySS and alignment using Stacks. Putative SNPs were then called. The alignment-only method using Stacks was not only simpler and more efficient, it also utilized 4X more reads and yielded 30X more SNPs than the assembly method. The putative SNPs showed a clear haplotype pattern that distinguished the two known lineages of brown bear in Sweden. The outcome of this study is a good start for further work in the development of a SNP-based dispersal model with the brown bear as the model species

Performance of SNP markers for parentage analysis in the Italian Alpine brown bear using non-invasive samples

Determination of parentage provides valuable information for the conservation of wild populations, for instance, by allowing the monitoring of breeding success and inbreeding. Between 1999 and 2002, nine brown bears (Ursus arctos) were translocated to augment the remnant population of a few surviving individuals in the Italian Alps, but only part of them reproduced, with a higher inbreeding risk occurrence in the long-time. Currently, in the Alpine population, parentage tests are assessed through the analysis of 15 microsatellite loci (STRs), but the reduction of genetic variability in future generations will need the use of additional informative markers. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been proven to be useful and reliable in individual identification and family reconstruction; moreover, they can perform well on low-quality samples. In this study, we analysed 51 SNPs to generate a SNP multilocus genotype dataset of 54 Alpine brown bears (Ursus arctos) and compared its performance in parentage analysis with the validated STR dataset. We found that SNPs alone are not sufficient to determine parentage relationships, but the combination of SNPs and STRs provided unambiguous parentage assignments. The combined panel also performed better than STRs when true parents were not present in the dataset and, consequently, showed higher values of assignment probabilities

“What if There's Something Wrong with Her?”‐How Biomedical Technologies Contribute to Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare

While there is a steadily growing literature on epistemic injustice in healthcare, there are few discussions of the role that biomedical technologies play in harming patients in their capacity as knowers. Through an analysis of newborn and pediatric genetic and genomic sequencing technologies (GSTs), I argue that biomedical technologies can lead to epistemic injustice through two primary pathways: epistemic capture and value partitioning. I close by discussing the larger ethical and political context of critical analyses of GSTs and their broader implications for just and equitable healthcare delivery

The role of religion in the longer-range future, April 6, 7, and 8, 2006

This repository item contains a single issue of the Pardee Conference Series, a publication series that began publishing in 2006 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This conference that took place during April 6, 7, and 8, 2006. Co-organized by David Fromkin, Director, Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and Ray L. Hart, Dean ad interim Boston University School of TheologyThe conference brought together some 40 experts from various disciplines to ponder upon the “great dilemma” of how science, religion, and the human future interact. In particular, different panels looked at trends in what is happening to religion around the world, questions about how religion is impacting the current political and economic order, and how the social dynamics unleashed by science and by religion can be reconciled.Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affair

BMQ

BMQ: Boston Medical Quarterly was published from 1950-1966 by the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals

A Web-Based Intervention for Social Media Addiction Disorder Management in Higher Education: Quantitative Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Social media addiction disorder has recently become a major concern and has been reported to have negative impacts on postgraduate studies, particularly addiction to Facebook. Although previous studies have investigated the effects of Facebook addiction disorder in learning settings, there still has been a lack of studies investigating the relationship between online intervention features for Facebook addiction focusing on postgraduate studies. OBJECTIVE: In an attempt to understand this relationship, this study aimed to carry out an investigation on online intervention features for effective management of Facebook addiction in higher education. METHODS: This study was conducted quantitatively using surveys and partial least square-structural equational modeling. The study involved 200 postgraduates in a Facebook support group for postgraduates. The Bergen Facebook Addiction test was used to assess postgraduates' Facebook addiction level, whereas online intervention features were used to assess postgraduates' perceptions of online intervention features for Facebook addiction, which are as follows: (1) self-monitoring features, (2) manual control features, (3) notification features, (4) automatic control features, and (5) reward features. RESULTS: The study discovered six Facebook addiction factors (relapse, conflict, salience, tolerance, withdrawal, and mood modification) and five intervention features (notification, auto-control, reward, manual control, and self-monitoring) that could be used in the management of Facebook addiction in postgraduate education. The study also revealed that relapse is the most important factor and mood modification is the least important factor. Furthermore, findings indicated that notification was the most important intervention feature, whereas self-monitoring was the least important feature. CONCLUSIONS: The study's findings (addiction factors and intervention features) could assist future developers and educators in the development of online intervention tools for Facebook addiction management in postgraduate education

Le FORUM, Vol. 34 No. 2

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/francoamericain_forum/1026/thumbnail.jp