Plant Inventory Of Random Sites At The Appalachian State Sustainable Development Teaching And Research Farm Forest

To create an initial, partial plant inventory of the Sustainable Development Farm forest, 21 randomly generated sample sites were visited in the fall of 2015 and the Spring of 2016 and the plants found were collected and identified. Forty-seven species were encountered, as well as an interesting variation in site diversity, which is discussed. The resulting initial inventory, the sample sites, the digitized forest tract map, and the photos of the sites and of the specimens will be available for reference for holistic forest management planning, more complete surveys, and for future ecological studies of the property

Perspectives on Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Taiwanese Health Insurance System

Approximately ninety-nine percent of Taiwanese citizens are enrolled under universal health insurance that provides comprehensive health coverage including some traditional Chinese medicine therapies. Through in-person interviews and surveys in Taiwan, our study reports on the perceived satisfaction with choice and reimbursement of traditional Chinese medicine covered by the universal health insurance system. Understanding Taiwan’s experiences with incorporating traditional Chinese medicine into the universal health insurance system may provide lessons and implications for other universal health insurance systems or private pay insurance companies that are considering coverage of traditional Chinese medicine and alternative medicines

Investigating an unknown protein (3UN6) in Staphylococcus aureus

Pathogenic bacteria wreak havoc on life all over the world and use virulent proteins which give them these destructive capabilities. Research groups all over the world investigate these proteins to understand how they operate, and what mechanisms they are incorporated in. This research project investigated an unidentified protein in Staphylococcus aureus (PDB: 3UN6). This bacterium is known to cause Staph infections and has the capability to become drug resistant. We hypothesize that 3UN6 is the substrate binding unit of an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter that attaches to the cell within the periplasmic space and is helping transport nitrate into the cell

Issue Ownership Theory: A Performance-Side Analysis

As originally noted by Petrocik (1996), presidential candidates are generally more successful when campaigning on the issues their party owns. Specifically, if the public consistently perceives that one party can handle an issue area better than the other party, then the party and its candidates gain the trust of the public and own the issue area. While numerous scholars have examined the impact of Petrocik’s issue ownership theory on candidates’ electoral success, scholars have not applied the central tenets of the theory to what presidents actually do after being elected. With this in mind, this project develops and tests a multivariate performance-side analysis of presidential success. Specifically, I examine whether presidents are more successful in issue areas which that party owns

A History Of The Educational Development Of Glynn County, Georgia

There was a definite need for a detailed account of the history of education in Glynn County, Georgia. Many brief accounts had been made in past years relating some of the history of the county educational system. These brief histories primarily dealt with the history of the town commons. Almost no research had been done on the subject

An Analysis Of The Maury High School Public Relations Program As Attested To By The News Appearing In The Norfolk Virginian Pilot For The Calendar Year 1950

During the past three years the writer has, as a result of numerous informal conferences with fellow educators, students, and patrons of the school, been moved by the nonchalance and lack of interest evidenced in the attitude at Maury High School, Norfolk, Virginia, in matters pertaining to the student welfare and school activities

Application Of The TriFISHer Assay For Estrogenic Activity From Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Effluents Released Into The New River

The TriFISHer assay was used to evaluate the risk from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent Endocrine Disrupting Concentrations (EDC) effects to the citizens in proximity of the South Fork New River (SFNR) and the Middle Fork of the New River (MFNR) as well as the aquatic vertebrate populations. Water samples were taken along the SFNR (n=16) and the MFNR (n= 15) from 2014 to 2016. Previous research suggests EDCs have potential impact at sub-ng/L concentrations, interfering with fish reproduction. Estrogen equivalent concentrations (EEQs) were negatively correlated with distance from the WWTPs along both rivers analyzed (p<0.0001). EEQ concentrations from Atlantic Croaker Estrogen Receptor (acERa) were not significantly different between rivers analyzed but had a significant amount of variation (26-83%) due to seasonal effects (p=0.0002). acERßa and acERßb EEQ from SFNR and MFNR sewage effluent were different across all seasons (p=<0.0001). Seasonal differences in ACER activity along the rivers can be attributed to temperature influences on bacterial metabolic rates, variation in UV irradiation levels, or precipitation effects on dilution rates. Differences between effluents are likely associated with differences in WWTP treatment technology and in pharmaceutical use between populations with median ages of 21 and 60 years according to 2010 census data

Memory Reflected in Our Decisions: Working Memory and Risky Choice Framing

The current study looks at the role working memory plays in risky-choice framing. Eighty-six participants took the Automatic OSPAN, a measurement of working memory; this was followed by a risky-choice framing task. Results show that participants with high working memory capacities demonstrate well-pronounced framing effects, whereas those with low working memory capacities do not. This pattern suggests that, in a typical risky-choice decision task, individuals with high working memory capacity are especially likely to be influenced by contextual factors, such as the frame, and consequently demonstrate stronger framing effects

Molecular phylogenetics of Amblycorypha (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae): a molecular morphometric and molecular taxonomic approach

Genus Amblycorypha (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) is comprised of 14 nominal species exhibitinghighly similar morphologies. Three major morphologically similar species complexes exist in Amblycorypha – the uhleri, oblongifolia, and rotundifolia complexes. While each species ismorphological similar, the songs that males use to attract mates differ drastically among species. Recently collected male and female mating songs suggest multiple undescribed species exist within the rotundifoliacomplex. Using molecular techniques, I aim to delimit species groups within Amblycorypha and attempt to reconstruct their evolutionary histories. The ITS1 (~461 bp), 5.8S (174 bp), and ITS2 (240 bp) nuDNA regions and a partial CO1 (523 bp) mtDNA gene were sequenced using massively parallel sequencing technologies. The CO1 mtDNA region was the most variable (10.1% overall mean distance), followed by ITS2 (1.1% mean distance), ITS1 (0.9% mean distance), and 5.8S (0.02% mean distance). A single nucleotide polymorphism was present in 5.8S uniting the uhleri complex as a clade. K2P interspecificdifferences had large overlap in both nominal species groups and unknown species groups. ML and MSC phylogenetic analyses recovered the uhleri complex as monophyletic, while the oblongifolia and rotundifolia complexes were polyphyletic. Additionally, 6 distinct clades of ‘unknown specimens’ were recovered in ML and MSC analyses using all gene targets. Finally, A. bartrami may represent a species complex based on the molecular evidence presented here. This study represents the first molecularphylogeny for genus Amblycorypha. While incomplete, this study supports additional cryptic species within the rotundifolia complex that were initially detected based on male songs

Semantic Consistency in Boundary Extension

Two experiments explored the effect of semantic consistency on boundary extension by presenting images depicting scenes with either a semantically consistent or inconsistent object-background relation; Experiment 1 presented these images for brief durations and Experiment 2 presented these images for long durations. The results of these experiments revealed no difference in boundary extension for brief image durations in Experiment 1 and a significant difference in boundary extension for long image durations in Experiment 2, with semantically inconsistent scenes eliciting less boundary extension than semantically consistent scenes. These findings are interpreted as evidence for boundary extension being context-independent early in scene perception and context-dependent late in scene perception. I suggest that spatial computation initially operates on object-background spatial relations alone and does not include semantic information, whereas spatial computation later operates on both object-background spatial relations as well as semantic information about the scene. For semantically inconsistent scenes, the competing semantic information from the context depicted in the background and the context implied by the object interfere with further spatial computation later in scene perception