The 100th Meridian Initiative in Nevada: Assessing the westward movement of the Zebra mussel to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha, are a concern for all bodies of water in North America. East of the 100th Meridian, zebra mussels have infested the waters and dramatically changed the natural ecosystems. The US Fish and Wildlife Services set up the 100th Meridian Initiative project to monitor the boat traffic to and from infested and non-infested waters of the United States and Canada. Surveys were conducted from October 19, 2002 through March 31, 2003, focusing specifically on the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) for the scope of this thesis. This study addresses the movement of trailers, boats, and other watercraft that enter the LMNRA. Specifically, we addressed three items 1) the origin of trailers that come to the LMNRA, 2) the three previous boat launch sites (ex. Michigan, Idaho, and California) of boats launching at the LMNRA, and 3) the boat cleaning strategies of anglers, pleasure, jet skis, canoes, and other boaters. A total of 4739 trailers were surveyed with a total of 4152 (at 88%) from Nevada, California, and Arizona with a total of 587 (at 12%) from other recorded states; while a total of 177 contact interviews were performed. Descriptive statistics and Chi Square analysis were completed to test the differences from our expected results. A vast majority of the boats surveyed at LMNRA came from local states and non-infested waters; and pleasure boaters were identified as the subgroup of boaters who clean their boats more regularly. Based on the launch locations records of infested states, personal interviews, and cleaning practices the risk of zebra mussel transport to the LMNRA is low

Relics of Battle: War, Memory, and New Museum Theory in Military Museums

The anthropology of museums, or museum ethnography, is a useful tool for critically analyzing the representational strategies of museums and their collections. This thesis focuses on the anthropological discussion of military museums and analysis of the material culture of conflict, and specifically on military museums in the United States and in Europe. Using a comparative approach, I look at how new museology and new museum theory is or is not being implanted in respective military history museum exhibitions, and discuss how personal and collective memory play a role in the construction of the military museum. I also consider how visiting, commemorating, interpreting, and reenacting aspects of military and conflict history in the museum, create narratives inside the museum

Addressing Racism with Youth: Using Art as a Tool

Youth voice is often excluded from important community conversations regarding social issues. Most individuals do not know how to engage in such complex topics with youth and often find themselves silencing youth or staying silent themselves when it comes up in discussions. This project was created in an effort to determine if art can be used as an effective mechanism for engaging youth in these critical conversations. A month-long program was created and implemented with eleven youth members and culminated in a final showcase where the youth shared their perceptions on racism with community members. The goal was to discover whether or not community members felt that art was an effective tool to engage youth and if they had something valuable to contribute to the conversation. Findings suggest that the majority of attendees not only agreed that the art was an effective way to convey their messages, but also that the youth had something important to share about racism. Furthermore, attendees strongly agreed that they will include youth in these conversations in the future. Therefore, this project is evidence that art can be used as a powerful mechanism for community conversations and a safe way to engage youth in them

A therapist’s perspective of a financial planning course: Implications for financial therapy education and trainings

This paper presents the autoethnography of a doctoral Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) student studying finances in a graduate course. A dataset in the form of field notes was created through recording observations and reflective journaling during the 15 week financial planning course. This data set included observations and insights on various skills and knowledge that would be helpful for conducting financial therapy, the professional and personal growth of a therapist integrating finances into her clinical work, and evaluations regarding how financial courses can be beneficial for therapists and planners who are interested in the interaction between relational and financial issues. Based on the first author’s experiences, reflections and conversations with the second author, four themes were developed. The themes were: (a) Seeing the Unnoticed: Challenging Implicit Assumptions, (b) Critically Examining My Own Money Scripts, (c) What can Therapists Learn From the Financial Discipline, and (d) What Financial Planners can Learn from the Clinical Disciplines. Implications for the burgeoning field of financial therapy are discussed, with special attention given to cross-discipline education and training

Time Dependent Selective Esterification of Free Fatty Acids for Algae Biofuel Testing

Undergraduate Basi

Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Self-Worth and Romantic Relationship Attachment Styles

It is frequently anticipated that men and women will differ with regards to relationship anxiety and avoidance as well as in self-ratings of physical attractiveness, emotional and intellectual intelligence, and communication abilities. In this study we measured self-reported relationship anxiety and avoidance and self-reported variables assessing various aspects of self-worth. There were a total of 232 participants, comprised of 116 heterosexual couples (116 men and 116 women). The average age of participants was 21.6; 80% were college students. Preliminary analyses showed that there were not many significant differences between the genders regarding relationship experiences or self-worth variables. Women reported marginally more relationship anxiety than men. Women also reported marginally higher self-reported emotional intelligence than men. there were not any gender differences on the other variables. Regarding associations between the self-worth and relationship variables, men’s self-reported physical attractiveness was negatively correlated with relationship avoidance, but not correlated with relationship anxiety. Women’s self-reported physical attractiveness was negatively correlated with relationship anxiety but not correlated with relationship avoidance, opposite to the men’s results. Regarding self-reported intellectual intelligence there were no significant correlations with relationship anxiety or avoidance for both men and women. Self-reported emotional intelligence was negatively correlated with relationship avoidance but not correlated with relationship anxiety for men. A similar pattern emerged for women: self-reported emotional intelligence was not correlated with anxiety, and was marginally negatively correlated with avoidance. In terms of communication ability, both men’s and women’s self-reported abilities were negatively correlated with both anxiety and avoidance. Lastly, relationship anxiety and avoidance are positively correlated with each other. These findings illustrate that there are not many gender differences in self-reported self-worth variables or relationship avoidance, though women did report marginally more relationship anxiety. Additionally, gender difference emerged in the relationships between self-worth variables and relationship anxiety and avoidance, though overall, higher emotional intelligence, physical attractiveness, and communication abilities were associated with less relationship anxiety and avoidance

Temperature Dependent Esterification of Free Fatty Acids in the Presence of Triglycerides

Undergraduate Basi

Book Review: Financial Therapy: 5 Steps Toward Financial Freedom

Financial Therapy: 5 Steps Toward Financial Freedom and its accompanying workbook, Guide to Financial Therapy Forms and Handouts: 5 Steps Toward Financial Freedom, was created to provide an intervention model to help clients become more financially literate and protect them from financial predators

Exploring How One’s Primary Financial Conversant Varies by Marital Status

Research has shown communication around finances is essential to relational satisfaction, yet often couples avoid these money talks. In this study, we examined how the financial discussions were impacted by marital status. The findings were surprising. Married people were the least likely to be engaging in money talks with their partner, all of the other participants (e.g., cohabitating, dating, separated) were all engaging their partners at much greater rates in money talks. However, married respondents were talking to their family members, friends, financial professionals, and other professionals about money. These different conversations were analyzed through the lens of social capital to explore how different couple typologies may impact their tendencies to use bridging or bonding social capital. Finally, the results suggest that other aspects of human capital (e.g., health, education, age) also related to rates of financial conversations. The findings of this study have strong implications for financial professionals, financial therapists, mental health professionals, as well as, implications for anyone in a romantic relationship