Activity in the pallial nerve of knobbed (Busycon carica) and channeled (Busycotypus canaliculatum) whelks recorded during exposure of the osphradium to odorant solutions

Adult horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) are the preferred bait in the U.S. east coast whelk pot fishery, but their harvest is being restricted because of severe population declines in the Chesapeake and Delaware bays. To identify other baits, the activity in the pallial nerve of whelks was determined during exposure of the osphradium to odorant solutions prepared from horseshoe crab eggs, horseshoe crab hemolymph, and hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) tissue. All three elicited significant responses; bait based on them may provide an alternative to the use of adult horseshoe crabs, although extensive behavioral testing remains to be done. Channeled whelk did not respond to molecular weight fractions (>3 kDa and <3 kDa) prepared from horseshoe crab egg odorant solutions but did respond when the molecular weight fractions were recombined. Whelks appear to have broadly tuned chemoreceptors and manufactured baits may need to mimic the complex mixture of odorants derived from natural sources

The Impact of Empathy Training on Perceptions of Substance Use Disorders

Negative attitudes and stigma toward individuals with mental health disorders, particularly substance use disorders, undoubtedly exist in communities around the globe. Lund and Boggero (2014) propose that negative attitudes toward mental health disorders have existed throughout history and across cultures, and there is an ongoing concern of how individuals with mental illness are affected by these negative attitudes (Poreddi, Thimmaiah, Pashupu, Ramachandra, & Badamath, 2014). Increasing levels of empathy in individuals has shown to decrease overall magnitude of negative attitudes; most empathy training tasks, however, are extensive and last several months. The current study examined the possibility of reducing negative implicit and explicit attitudes toward individuals with substance use disorders using a brief empathy training intervention (i.e., music videos). Participants experienced a significant increase in empathy levels, however, the increases between-groups were non-significant. A significant effect of empathy training on explicit attitudes toward individuals with substance use disorders was not detected. The Go/No-Go Association Task used as an implicit measure was not reliable; therefore implicit attitudes could not be used in interpretation. If brief empathy training were effective in increasing empathy and improving attitudes toward individuals with substance use disorders, future research should attempt to alter video content to improve attitudes toward other stigmatized groups

Idiopathic Lesions and Visual Deficits in the American Lobster (Homarus americanus) from Longs Island Sound, NY

In 1999 a mass mortality of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) occurred in western Long Island Sound (WLIS). Although the etiology remains unknown, warm bottom water temperature, hypoxia, heavy metal poisoning, and pesticides have been suggested as casual factors. Subsequently, lobsters from WLIS have continued to display symptoms of morbidity that include lethargy and cloudy grey eyes, caused by idiopathic lesions. The effects of these lesions on lobster vision are unknown. We therefore used electoretinography (ERG) to document changes in visual function in lobsters obtained from WLIS, while simultaneously using histology to quantify the extent of damage. Of the lobsters collected from WLIS, seventy three percent showed damage to photoreceptors and optic nerve fibers including necrosis of the optic nerve, breakdown of the rhabdom, and hemocyte infiltration through the basement membrane into the ommatidia. Animals with more than 15% of photoreceptors exhibiting histological damage also exhibited markedly reduced responses to 10 ms flashes of a broad-spectrum white light. Specifically, the maximum voltage (Vmax) response was significantly lower and occurred at a lower light intensity as compared to responses from lobsters without idiopathic lesions. Lobsters from outside WLIS did not show such reduced changes to their vision. Lobsters from WLIS still appear to be subjected to an unknown stressor with an idiopathic etiology that is causing significant functional damage to their visual system

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationLow back pain (LBP) is a common and costly problem. Among the top primary care research priorities are identifying prognostic subgroups of patients with LBP and identifying specific management strategies based on relevant subgroups. The Start Back Screening Tool (SBST) is a primary care decision tool that stratifies patients into prognostic subgroups based on the patient's risk for prolonged disability. Other subgrouping strategies screen for patients who fit a prediction rule (CPR) that may identify them as likely to respond to spinal manipulation (SM). It is unclear whether patients who are stratified by the SBST (high- and medium-risk) and who meet a CPR respond differentially to SM with exercise based on their risk stratification. In a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial, we found no 2-way interactions between risk stratification and treatment group at 4-week, 3-month or 1-year time points for disability or pain, indicating that the effects of treatment were no different between the medium- and high-risk groups. When we examined the effects of treatment separately within each risk subgroup, SM with exercise was superior to usual care at 3 months for disability and pain in those categorized as high-risk (mean difference = 3.95, 95% CI: 0.02, 7.87). After controlling for covariates, the SBST accounted for 2.4% (β = 4.25, p = 0.035) of the variance in the 4-week disability. In the same group of patients, we explored the relationship between the SBST and treatment expectations. Expectations of benefit from ten commonly used interventions for LBP were represented by four principal components: Exercise, Passive, Rest/Medication and Surgery). There were no associations between the components and the SBST (high versus medium- and low-risk). Finally, we retrospectively examined the influence of a mental health (MH) comorbidity on LBP-related healthcare costs in new consulters to primary care for LBP. Interaction terms between mental health comorbidity and patient factors were explored as contributors to predicting total costs. Individuals with a comorbid MH condition had higher LBP-related costs than those without. Males with a MH comorbidity experienced greater LBP-related healthcare costs than females (mean difference = $1077.26 USD, 95% CI = 428.10 - 1776.43)

A Theory Of Small Program Complexity

Small programs are those which are written and understood by one. person. Large software systems usually consist of many small programs. The complexity of a small program is a prediction of how difficult it would be for someone to understand the program. This complexity depends of three factors: (1) the size and interelationships of the program itself; (2) the size and interelationships of the internal model of the program\u27s purpose held by the person trying to understand the program; and (3) the complexity of the mapping between the model and the program. A theory of small program complexity based on these three factors is presented. The theory leads to several testable predictions. Experiments are described which test these predictions and whose results could verify or destroy the theory. © 1982, ACM. All rights reserved

Theme and Imagery in Tchicaya U Tam\u27si\u27s A Triche Coeur

Partaking of the universal search for self-knowledge, Gerald Felix Tchicaya U Tam\u27si\u27s A Triche Coeur explores and evaluates the assumptions which shape his African identity. The thematic movement of the volume progresses from his initial state of naive ignorance of the realities of African history to a more mature awareness of it. Through images of uprooting and regeneration, the poet discovers both the blood-stained truth of European colonization of Africa and the traitorous collaboration of its renegades. Casting off the myths of the civilizing mission, the noble savage and the romantic posturings of the Negritude poets, U Tam\u27si releases himself from their psychological hold on him. Utilizing metaphors and similes which emphasize the discovery process, the poet generates a new vision of himself and urges other \u27lost\u27 Africans to follow his footsteps

Modified Nonparametric Tests for the Umbrella Alternative with Known Peak in a Mixed Design

The Mack-Wolfe and Kim-Kim statistics are two of the most commonly used non-parametric tests for the umbrella alternative problem when the underlying designs follow a CRD or an RCBD, respectively. In this paper, modifications of the Mack-Wolfe and Kim-Kim test are proposed to develop test statistics for the umbrella alternative with known peak when the data are mixture of a randomized complete block and a completely randomized design. The two proposed test statistics are compared to each other and some other existing tests. Results are given

Student Rating of Instruction: A Survey of Satisfaction and Uses

This paper describes a study conducted at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in an effort to measure the level of satisfaction and uses of the student evaluation process, from now on referred to as the Student Rating of Instruction (SROI). This study consisted of the following five (5) phases: Phase I – Input from the Students Phase II – Input from Administrators Phase III – Input from Faculty Phase IV – Data Analysis and Evaluation Phase V – Recommendations and Conclusion

Nonparametric Tests for the Umbrella Alternative in a Mixed Design for Location

This paper further investigates existing test statistics proposed by Magel et al. (2010) for detecting umbrella alternatives when the peak is known, and the underlying design consists of a completely randomized design (CRD) and randomized complete block design (RCBD). Magel et al. (2010) assumed equal variance between the CRD and the RCBD portions for the power estimates that they conducted.&nbsp; We investigate the powers of the tests compared to each other when testing for location in this design when the variance of the CRD portion is 2, 4, and 9 times larger than the variance of the RCBD portion. Underlying normal, t, and exponential distributions are considered as well as a variety of location shifts, and different ratios between the sample size in the CRD portion compared to the number of blocks in the RCBD portion