The Relationship Between Military Deployment and Spouses\u27 Anxiety, Depression, and Stress

Military families experience increased levels of stress during times of deployment. Previous research has examined the effect of deployment on female spouses but not on male spouses. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between military deployment and male and female spouses\u27 anxiety, depression, and perceived stress. The theoretical framework used for this study was the contextual model of family stress and coping. The research questions focused on whether military deployment, gender, communication ability, and coping skills were related to spouses\u27 depression, anxiety, and stress. Multiple regression was used to examine the relationships among the variables. A cross sectional design was used. Six male and 123 female military spouses participated in the study. Results demonstrated a positive relationship between emotion coping and depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and stress levels. Results showed that as military spouses\u27 emotion coping increased, their levels of depression, anxiety, and stress increased. Communication ability had a positive relationship with anxiety symptoms. The results showed that as military spouses\u27 communication ability increased, their anxiety symptoms increased. Task coping had a negative relationship with stress levels. The results showed that as military spouses\u27 task coping increased, their levels of stress decreased. This research could assist professionals working with military spouses during a deployment to develop skills to assist with coping with depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and stress levels

A Scoping Review of Campus-Based Animal-Assisted Interactions Programs for College Student Mental Health

Background: People have long found support by interacting with animals, which has developed into a health care modality called animal-assisted interactions (AAI). In the past 10 years, AAI has increased as a way to support college students’ mental health; however, there is no comprehensive evidence on the effectiveness of these programs.Method: A scoping review was conducted using the JBI and PRISMA-ScR criteria. Empirical articles were identified through Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost), PsychINFO (Ovid), and Web of Science using three groups of keywords: AAI, college students, and mental health. Results: Of the 1,195 publications identified, 37 met this study’s eligibility criteria. Results reported statistically significant (positive) changes in college students’ mental health within the cognitive, physiological, psychological, and social quality of life domains. Contributions: This study demonstrated that AAI for college student mental health is an emerging interest in research, practice, and education; however, a robust understanding of these programs remains vastly understudied

Carbon Offset Solutions for International Travel Emissions

This paper explores possible carbon offset solutions for the University of Richmond’s (UR’s) study-abroad travel emissions in pursuit of the University’s goal to be carbon neutral by the year 2050. First, our group divided the world into five regions to which UR students travel: Oceania, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. For the most popular countries in each region, we suggest several carbon offset programs to address this portion of the University’s carbon emissions. Then, we created a methodology for evaluating and comparing carbon offset programs around the world including six scoring categories: experience, education, incentive, price, impact, and effectiveness. We evaluated each offset option using a report card grading system on a scale from letter grade A to F. This paper concludes with recommendations for how UR’s Office of International Education and Office of Sustainability should proceed with this project, and how our research should be included into the existing study abroad framework at UR. Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar/Geography Capstone

Carbon Offset Solutions for International Travel Emissions

Within a ten-year period (FY 2002-3 to FY 2012-2013), the University of Richmond study abroad program has experienced a 96% increase in student participation. In 2007, Newsweek magazine recognized the University as the Hottest School in America for international studies. In 2013, 710 University students studied abroad. While studying abroad has numerous academic benefits, international transportation contributes carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and thus increases the negative environmental consequences of anthropogenic climate change. In FY 2013, UR students traveled 6,154,032 miles, emitting ~6,892,515 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Given this negative impact and UR\u27s carbon neutral goals, we feel UR and UR students should be aware of options to mitigate carbon emissions. One way to compensate for emissions released by air travel is to invest in carbon capture offset programs. Although some assert carbon offset programs merely sustain environmentally unfriendly behaviors by reducing the guilt people feel, others have found carbon offsets a beneficial option for people who will be traveling by plane (Lovell et al. 2009). This project introduces several international carbon offeset programs that might help offset UR\u27s international travel carbon emissions. Specifically, we examine options for programs around the countries most popular with University of Richmond students. Poster prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar/Geography Capstone

Microsite Drivers of Natural Seed Regeneration of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. in Burnt Plantations

Fire regimes are changing in several regions of the world. In those regions, some exotic species may be better adapted to new regimes than the native species. This study focused on identifying the microsite characteristics associated with the occurrence of post-fire Eucalyptus globulus regeneration from seeds, outside the species native-range. This information is important in helping to assess the naturalization status of the species, to understand its invasion risk, and to manage wildlings in plantations. To characterize the establishment niche, pairs of microsites (sapling presence/ absence) were sampled in four salvage-logged plantations of E. globulus two years after fire (20 pairs/plantation). Microsites of wildlings from three size classes and control microsites were established in one of these plantations (20 quartets) in order to characterize the recruitment niche and to assess ontogenic niche shifts. Two post-fire wildling cohorts were identified. The first emerged just after fire and was abundant. The second emerged after logging and was scarce, probably due to seed limitation. First-cohort wildlings were observed in microsites characterized by a high incidence of fire-related variables (charcoal, ash, increased soil pH and K). The aggregated distribution of these wildlings and their association with other species may indicate the existence of facilitative relationships and/or the exploitation of resource-rich patches. All these factors were relevant for first-cohort persistence and likely also for its establishment and recruitment. Second-cohort wildlings occurred in microsites where salvage-logging disturbance was evident, showing the importance of this disturbance for its emergence. Wildling size diversity was explained by the two recruitment events and by the asymmetrical competition between wildlings and adults. No niche shifts were detected. The high densities of E. globulus wildlings found established in burnt plantations indicated naturalization was in progress. The timing of major recruitment events and the phenology of the species should be considered for monitoring this regeneration and scheduling control interventions, if requiredinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Neurovascular Relation in Oxygen-induced Retinopathy

Purpose: Longitudinal studies in rat models of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) have demonstrated that abnormalities of retinal vasculature and function change hand-in-hand. In the developing retina, vascular and neural structures are under cooperative molecular control. In this study of rats with oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) models of ROP, mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), semaphorin (Sema), and their neuropilin receptor (NRP) were examined during the course of retinopathy to evaluate their roles in the observed neurovascular congruency. Methods: Oxygen exposures designed to induce retinopathy were delivered to Sprague-Dawley rat pups (n=36) from postnatal day (P) 0 to P14 or from P7 to P14. Room-air-reared controls (n=18) were also studied. Sensitivities of the rod photoreceptors ($S_{rod}$) and the postreceptor cells (Sm) were derived from electroretinographic (ERG) records. Arteriolar tortuosity, $T_A$, was derived from digital fundus images using Retinal Image multi-Scale Analysis (RISA) image analysis software. mRNA expression of $VEGF_{164}$, semaphorin IIIA (Sema3A), and neuropilin-1 (NRP-1) was evaluated by RT–PCR of retinal extracts. Tests were performed at P15–P16, P18–P19, and P25–P26. Relations among ERG, RISA, and PCR parameters were evaluated using linear regression on log transformed data. Results: Sm was low and $T_A$ was high at young ages, then both resolved by P25–P26. $VEGF_{164}$ and Sema3A mRNA expression were also elevated early and decreased with age. Low Sm was significantly associated with high $VEGF_{164}$ and Sema3A expression. Low Srod was also significantly associated with high VEGF164. $S_{rod}$ and Sm were both correlated with $T_A$. NRP-1 expression was little affected by OIR. Conclusions: The postreceptor retina appears to mediate the vascular abnormalities that characterize OIR. Because of the relationships revealed by these data, early treatment that targets the neural retina may mitigate the effects of ROP

Temperature and rainfall are separate agents of selection shaping population differentiation in a forest tree

Research highlights: We present evidence indicating that covariation of functional traits among populations of a forest tree is not due to genetic constraints, but rather selective covariance arising from local adaptation to di erent facets of the climate, namely rainfall and temperature. Background and Aims: Traits frequently covary among natural populations. Such covariation can be caused by pleiotropy and/or linkage disequilibrium, but also may arise when the traits are genetically independent as a direct consequence of natural selection, drift, mutation and/or gene flow. Of particular interest are cases of selective covariance, where natural selection directly generates among-population covariance in a set of genetically independent traits. We here studied the causes of population-level covariation in two key traits in the Australian tree Eucalyptus pauciflora. Materials and Methods: We studied covariation in seedling lignotuber size and vegetative juvenility using 37 populations sampled from throughout the geographic and ecological ranges of E. pauciflora on the island of Tasmania. We integrated evidence from multiple sources: (i) comparison of patterns of trait covariation within and among populations; (ii) climate-trait modelling using machine-learning algorithms; and (iii) selection analysis linking trait variation to field growth in an arid environment. Results: We showed strong covariation among populations compared with the weak genetic correlation within populations for the focal traits. Population di erentiation in these genetically independent traits was correlated with di erent home-site climate variables (lignotuber size with temperature; vegetative juvenility with rainfall), which spatially covaried. The role of selection in shaping the population di erentiation in lignotuber size was supported by its relationship with fitness measured in the field. Conclusions: Our study highlights the multi-trait nature of adaptation likely to occur as tree species respond to spatial and temporal changes in climateinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Accuracy of measurements of mandibular anatomy in cone beam computed tomography images

Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of ideally positioned and systematically mispositioned dry skulls were measured using two-dimensional and three-dimensional software measurement techniques. Image measurements were compared with caliper measurements of the skulls