Interspecific Competition Affects Avian Personality, Assortative Mating, and Reproductive Success

Animal personality is thought to influence monogamous relationships by better allowing mates to coordinate territory defense and parental care behaviors. Aggressive territorial defense and boldness to potential predators are often important and ecologically relevant animal personality traits; however, the effects of heterogeneous social environments on the expression of assortative mating, personality, and behavioral syndromes are poorly understood. Eastern bluebirds are secondary cavity nesting birds that are facing a changing social environment in western NC. Tree swallows are expanding their range southward and have been in the field site for < 40 years. Tree swallows are highly aggressive and compete with bluebirds for limited nesting cavities. This new selection pressure may interfere with otherwise adaptive personality traits. This thesis aims to understand the ways that interspecific competition with a highly aggressive species may shape individual behavior and affect reproductive success in cavity nesting birds. Here, I examined how interspecific competition with tree swallows affects the propensity of paired male and female Eastern bluebirds to mate assortatively for behavior and how that may affect reproductive success. Furthermore, I examined how interspecific competition may affect behavior in an attempt to understand how the environment plays a role in shaping animal personality and plasticity

Will You Lie Even If I’ll Find Out? The Dark Triad, Deception, And Ex Post Transparency

Deception is an influential part of interpersonal behaviors. Deception appears to be related to personality features such as narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. These traits, collectively known as the Dark Triad, are hallmarked by self-centeredness, lack of empathy, and manipulativeness. Another factor that may influence deception is ex post transparency – that is, the likelihood that the deception will be discovered by the person being deceived. What is not known is whether the relationship between the Dark Triad and deception depends on the level of transparency. In my study, participants performed a task and were given the opportunity to send either truthful or deceptive information to a co-participant. Before the task began, I varied the level or transparency; the participants were told either that the co-participant would: not find out about any deception, would find out about any deception, or there would be a 50% chance the co-participant would find out about any deception. Finally, participants completed a measure of the Dark Triad. Results indicated that only Machiavellianism positively predicted deception. Contrary to my prediction, transparency was not found to influence rates of deception. Finally, the relationship between Machiavellianism and deception was not significantly influenced by the level of transparency

A Tale Of Two Subunits: Co-Expression Using The Dual Plasmid Approach Of The Two Subunit Protein Dimethylsulfide Monooxygenase From Hyphomicrobium Sulfonivorans

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is a volatile organic sulfur compound (VOSC) that makes up about 70% of the atmospheric sulfur flux. Its ability to increase cloud formation, thereby lowering solar radiation, makes it an important gas to investigate for climate cooling options. Dimethylsulfide monooxygenase is an enzyme that was purified and characterized from the soil bacteria Hyphomicrobium sulfonivorans (H. sulfonivorans) as a flavin mononucleotide dependent two-component monooxygenase for DMS degradation. The A subunit, DmoA, is a putative monooxygenase, and the B subunit, DmoB, is a putative flavin reductase. The sequence identity of the dmoA gene is known. However, there are two dmoB gene candidates on the same operon that encode for putative flavin reductases. Protein isolation and purification from H. sulfonivorans indicates that the DmoA and DmoB subunits coexpress. DmoA and one of the flavin reductase candidates, DmoB176, have been co-expressed using the two plasmid approach in BL21DE3 E. coli. The dual plasmids were co-transformed in BL21DE3 E. coli, expressed, and purified via affinity chromatography. Initial data confirms expression of the DmoA monooxygenase protein at Mr of 53 kDa and DmoB176 at Mr of 19 kDa. Current research is being performed to standardize the co-expression procedure in order to measure enzymatic activity

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

The determination of anions and metals in kombucha using ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy

Kombucha is a fermented tea that has been consumed since the time of the Tsin Dynasty inChina.1 It is produced from the modification of sweetened tea by a symbiotic culture of bacteriaand yeast. The culture is called a SCOBY and it initiates several transformative chemicalprocesses in sweetened tea that produces ethanol, organic acids, and acetic acid. The purpose ofthis research project was to develop quality analysis and control methods for a regionalkombucha manufacturer. Inorganic and organic ions and metals were determined in finishedkombucha, source materials, commercially available teas, and competitor beverages. Sampletreatment assays and instrument methods were developed for these compounds. IonChromatography (IC) was used to determine organic and inorganic anions while InductivelyCoupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICPOES) was used to determine metals. Anionconcentrations of acetate, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate varied between eachkombucha flavor. This is likely due to different additives, such as; fruit juice, spices, andextracts. Acetate was found in the highest concentration, which is to be expected because aceticacid is a major by-product of sweet-tea fermentation. Analyses showed that the concentrations ofaluminum, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, and sodium were relatively consistent across 10 different kombucha flavors. Concentrations in the kombucha flavors were similar toconcentrations in the competitor beverages and brewed tea samples. In general, calcium,magnesium, and sodium were the most prevalent metals found in the 10 kombucha flavors

Apple Stack Cake

If there is one sweet treat typically thought of when Appalachian cooking is mentioned, it is the apple stack cake. In this video the author traces the history of the apple stack cake, looks at the socio-economic aspects of the dessert, considers different recipes, and how the apple stack cake features in literature.This record comprises a video and a script. The video, which, in accordance with UNC Asheville policy, has been captioned and uploaded to YouTube, is hypelinked in "Additional Information" below. The script is available through NCDocks as a pdf file

Food practices of homemakers in a suburban area of Greensboro, North Carolina

The advancement of technology, the shift of social and economic forces, the population expansion, and the change in age group distribution affect today's home life. These changes along with family mobility, increased urban living, earlier marriage and parenthood, and the multiplicity of new goods and services available require new approaches to education for homemaking. Wood, Hill, and Amidon in a bulletin on the employed homemaker and management state that "Education adapted to the changing times and geared to significant needs of the homemakers of today can play a vital role in helping family members to meet new problems and to live enriched lives under the ever-changing conditions."

INTEGRATION OF THE SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT FOR AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS WITH ROBOTICS MIDDLEWARE

Robotic simulators have long been used to test code and designs before any actual hardware is tested to ensure safety and efficiency. Many current robotics simulators are either closed source (calling into question the fidelity of their simulations) or are very complicated to install and use. There is a need for software that provides good quality simulation as well as being easy to use. Another issue arises when moving code from the simulator to actual hardware. In many cases, the code must be changed drastically to accommodate the final hardware on the robot, which can possibly invalidate aspects of the simulation. This defense describes methods and techniques for developing high fidelity graphical and physical simulation of autonomous robotic vehicles that is simple to use as well as having minimal distinction between simulated hardware, and actual hardware. These techniques and methods were proven by the development of the Simulation Environment for Autonomous Robots (SEAR) described here. SEAR is a 3-dimensional open source robotics simulator written by Adam Harris in Java that provides high fidelity graphical and physical simulations of user-designed vehicles running user-defined code in user-designed virtual terrain. Multiple simulated sensors are available and include a GPS, triple axis accelerometer, triple axis gyroscope, a compass with declination calculation, LIDAR, and a class of distance sensors that includes RADAR, SONAR, Ultrasonic and infrared. Several of these sensors have been validated against real-world sensors and other simulation software

All roads lead to the same city

The stories in this collection are grouped together because each deals exclusively with black children and their reactions to a white-oriented black middle class world. Several characters are used in different stories for the purpose of suggesting the ambiguous nature of setting and situation of each. However, this is not to imply that any story is dependent upon another. Any thematic relationship or movement the reader may detect is intentional. The unscrutable wisdom found in the Proverbs of Wise Pickle at this point whisper, To Explicate is to Shatter, To Discover is to Know for Oneself