Invertebrates resource consumption across successional stages of a northern temperate forest.

General EcologyPrescribed burns are a convenient means to measure forest succession and its effects on species diversity and ecosystem functions . The purpose of this study is to examine invertebrate resource consumption across various stages of forest succession. We placed different resource types, including butter-coated , salt-coated, sugarcoated , and uncoated grains of rice in four segments of neighboring forest. These forest segments underwent natural and prescribed bums in 1911, 1936, 1954, 1980, and 1998. We measured average units of rice removed over two twenty-four hour periods. We found that forest age was a significant predictor o fresource removal, with the 1936, 1980, and 1998 plots having the greatest resource removal. We found that rice treatment was not a significant predictor of resource removal. We also found that the type of resource removed did not vary across the various burn plots. An increase in resource consumption in 1936, 1980, and 1998 burn plots indicates that forest succession and its related changes in ecosystem functions do not always follow a prescribed linear, or logistic model. Further research should explore the relationship between biodiversity and resource removal as a function of forest age.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116835/1/Rogers_Erin_2015.pd

Tobacco Cessation and the Household Budget: A Longitudinal Analysis of Consumption and Heterogeneity in the United States

Objectives: This dissertation was designed to: (1) estimate the relationships between recent, long-term, and relapsed tobacco cessation and dollars spent on non-tobacco goods among households in the U.S., (2) estimate the relationships between recent, long-term, and relapsed tobacco cessation and the budget shares allocated to non-tobacco goods among households in the U.S., and (3) to identify and characterize unobserved heterogeneity in the relationship between tobacco cessation and dollars spent on alcohol and food. Methods: Using 2006-2012 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) data, a cohort of 6,739 tobacco-consuming households was created and followed for four quarters. Households were categorized during the fourth quarter as having: (1) recent tobacco cessation, (2) long-term cessation, (3) relapsed cessation or (4) no cessation. Generalized linear models and fractional logistic regression were used to compare the fourth quarter expenditures and budget shares of eight categories (alcohol, food at home, food away from home, housing, health care, transportation, entertainment and other) between the no cessation households and those with recent, long-term or relapsed cessation. All models controlled for potential confounding variables, including household sociodemographics and economic changes during the study’s four quarters (e.g., income change, state-level change in unemployment, household job loss). Finite mixture modeling (FMM) was used to further examine unobserved heterogeneity in the relationships between cessation and household spending on food and alcohol. Results: Compared to households that did not quit during the study, households with long-term and recent cessation had significantly lower fourth quarter spending on alcohol, entertainment, and transportation. The reduced spending on alcohol among households with recent or long-term cessation was driven by a significantly higher proportion of households with no alcohol spending in the fourth quarter. Recent cessation was further associated with reduced spending on food at home, while relapsed cessation was associated with higher spending on food away from home. There were no significant differences in dollars spent on health care, housing, or other goods between households that did not quit and those with any type of cessation. The analysis of fourth quarter budget share data found that long-term cessation was associated with a significantly lower share of the budget allocated to alcohol and entertainment, yet a higher share to housing, health care and food. Recent cessation was associated with a significantly lower budget share for alcohol, yet a higher share on housing and ‘other’ goods or services. There were no significant differences between households with recent cessation and those that did not quit in the share of the budget allocated to health care, food, transportation, or entertainment. Households with relapsed cessation had a significantly higher food away from home budget during the fourth quarter than households that did not quit, despite resuming their spending on tobacco. Further, the proportion of the total food budget in particular among relapsed households shifted toward food away from home purchases. Lastly, the FMM’s results revealed significant heterogeneity in household spending on alcohol following cessation. While most households reduced alcohol spending during or after tobacco cessation, a subgroup of households (determined by lower pre-quit alcohol spending and possibly younger age, white race, and multi-person membership) were also able to reduce or maintain a reduction in alcohol spending following relapse back to tobacco. The food at home FMM analysis suggested that the effect of tobacco cessation on food at home spending was largely homogeneous, with 96% of the sample captured by a single subpopulation, in which both long-term and recent cessation were associated with a small but significant reduction in food at home spending. Households were more likely to be part of the subpopulation that did not lower their food at home spending after quitting if they had lower pre-quit spending on food at home, were not married, and had experienced a decrease in earners during the study. The food away from home FMM analysis found that long-term and recent cessation were unrelated to fourth quarter spending on food away from home in the two subpopulations identified, but relapsed cessation was associated with higher spending on food away from home in only the smaller of the two subpopulations identified. Households were more likely to be part of the subpopulation that increased food away spending with tobacco relapse if they had higher baseline food away spending, were not married, and had not experienced job loss during the study. Conclusions: Long-term and recent tobacco cessation were not associated with higher spending in any non-tobacco category. Households with long-term and recent cessation appeared to execute expenditure reductions that enabled or complemented their tobacco cessation and decreased their total expenditures – leaving a prioritization within the budget of food, housing, and health care. Overall, the relapsed household findings suggest one of a struggle between a new health priority (e.g., a quit attempt and reduced relative spending on alcohol) and an increase in eating away from home, with ultimate relapse back to tobacco. Financial strain and/or income constraints, as well as social motivations to eat at home, were the most consistent determinants of the change in a household’s spending on food away from home following cessation. Additional research is needed to understand the mechanisms of these relationships

Verb aquisition in students of English as a Second Language: language learning background and attitudes

In order to determine how learner background and learner attitudes affected English as a Second Language students’ verb production, eleven ESL learners participated in both oral and written tasks. They were given written surveys to determine what was emphasized more in learning English in their home countries: speaking or writing. Another survey was administered to determine which of these activities that they liked best. Next, the subjects watched a movie clip, wrote about it, and then spoke about it. Their written and spoken total amount of verbs produced and total amount of verbs used correctly were compared and analyzed to see if there was a relationship between their learning background and production in speaking and writing and activity preference and production in speaking and writing. While the sample size was too small to obtain reliable correlations, so several subjects’ samples were studied in order to determine the effects of preference on production. In the end, individual differences played the largest role in verb production and there was a slight but noticeable relationship between a preference for speaking and amount of verbs produced

Between Tradition and Transformation: A Feminist Investigation of the Role of Pastoral Women within Tanzania\u27s Integrated Environment and Development Landscape

Pastoral women hold pivotal social and environmental roles within their communities. Equally and actively engaging pastoral women in processes to conserve and sustainably use rangeland resources has therefore become an important focus for integrated environment and development intervention. In northern Tanzania, pastoral women find themselves at the center of gender equality efforts, which attempt to translate gender and environment theory into conservation action that elevates pastoral women’s historically unheard voices. Along the way, particular global narratives have positioned pastoral women alternately as passive beneficiaries or as powerful allies in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. Although the importance of integrating gender considerations into conservation work is now widely acknowledged, there remains a pressing need to examine how pastoral women are understood and meaningfully engaged in a contemporary environment and development landscape. My research attends to this need by investigating how pastoral women are engaged as actors within the integrated environment and development agenda in Tanzania. The first part of the study uses critical discourse analysis to interrupt dominant global narratives and explore local discourse that tells a multifaceted story about pastoral women and their environment. Placed in the broader context of the politics of integrated environment and development, my analysis indicates that local organizations actively resist specific limiting global discourses to create space for pastoral women to define their own identities and roles in natural resource management. In the second part of the study, I draw upon semi-structured, in-depth interviews with leaders and staff of both local and international organizations operating in northern Tanzania’s rangelands to investigate how the voices and knowledge of women pastoralists are invited to influence their environment and development work. The findings suggest that organizations operating in northern Tanzania have embraced the complexity of the role of pastoral women but have yet to match this truth with strategies to engage women across social categories and robustly measure the impacts of their involvement. Jointly, data from this study demonstrates a consistent push and pull between tradition and transformation, ultimately inviting actors to break away from dichotomous world views to design integrated social-ecological projects that more successfully honor today’s pastoral women. I conclude with recommendations for how ‘new’ conservation interventions could also incorporate new frames of work that are more responsive to local perspectives on pathways toward greater sustainability and equity

Regional gray matter volumetric changes in autism associated with social and repetitive behavior symptoms.

BackgroundAlthough differences in brain anatomy in autism have been difficult to replicate using manual tracing methods, automated whole brain analyses have begun to find consistent differences in regions of the brain associated with the social cognitive processes that are often impaired in autism. We attempted to replicate these whole brain studies and to correlate regional volume changes with several autism symptom measures.MethodsWe performed MRI scans on 24 individuals diagnosed with DSM-IV autistic disorder and compared those to scans from 23 healthy comparison subjects matched on age. All participants were male. Whole brain, voxel-wise analyses of regional gray matter volume were conducted using voxel-based morphometry (VBM).ResultsControlling for age and total gray matter volume, the volumes of the medial frontal gyri, left pre-central gyrus, right post-central gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, caudate nuclei and the left hippocampus were larger in the autism group relative to controls. Regions exhibiting smaller volumes in the autism group were observed exclusively in the cerebellum. Significant partial correlations were found between the volumes of the caudate nuclei, multiple frontal and temporal regions, the cerebellum and a measure of repetitive behaviors, controlling for total gray matter volume. Social and communication deficits in autism were also associated with caudate, cerebellar, and precuneus volumes, as well as with frontal and temporal lobe regional volumes.ConclusionGray matter enlargement was observed in areas that have been functionally identified as important in social-cognitive processes, such as the medial frontal gyri, sensorimotor cortex and middle temporal gyrus. Additionally, we have shown that VBM is sensitive to associations between social and repetitive behaviors and regional brain volumes in autism

An Examination of the Relationships Between Stressors, Correctional Burnout, and Job Outcomes

While most jobs can cause work related stress, correctional workers experience exposure to stressors that often result in a more serious condition known as burnout. The effects of burnout are far more detrimental than average work related stress yet, there is a dearth of knowledge and research on correctional burnout. This study examines how work characteristics relate to correctional burnout (e.g. emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a decreased sense of personal accomplishment) and job outcomes (e.g. job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover. It also assesses the relationship between the three aspects of burnout and the three types of job outcomes listed above. Data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons Prison Social Climate Survey (PSCS) is used to address questions of how stressors contribute to the three dimensions of burnout and how the dimensions of burnout relate to job outcomes. . The PSCS is issued annually to a stratified random sample of all Federal Bureau of Prisons employees to solicit employee views of organizational and institutional practices. The survey consists of approximately 50 Likert scale questionnaire items measuring employee perceptions of organizational operations, supervision, organizational commitment, burnout, turnover, and job satisfaction. Bivariate and multivariate analysis results support the seven research hypotheses and indicated significant statistical relationships between work characteristics, burnout, and job outcomes. Job demands such as dangerousness and high workload increase burnout and turnover rates while decreasing job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job resources such as supervisory quality and fairness, staff camaraderie, and high decisional authority reduce the rates of burnout and turnover while increasing job satisfaction and organizational commitment. , Keywords: correctional officers, correction, burnout, fatigue, organizational stressors, job outcome

Conflict Minerals

This presentation will include an extensive review of literature of Conflict Minerals, particularly situations occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Conflict minerals, as defined by Salem Press Encyclopedia are raw minerals that derive from areas of armed conflict. The presentation will examine the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conflict minerals and its intersection with militant groups and the recovery process. We seek to portray historical events that led to this conflict and discuss current initiatives to combat this important social issue. Our goal is to raise awareness of the far reaching impact of this conflict on the Congolese people and other nations. We also aim to educate about ways to affect change

“High schoolers’ and middle schoolers’ connections in their schools: Relation to tardiness, absences, disciplinary referrals, and failed courses”

The Connections Project (Pristawa,2014) is designed to assist school personnel in identifying students at-risk for social-emotional concerns by examining students’ perceptions of connectedness with adults and peers in school. Currently used in several states, schools complete the screening measure as part of their use of the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. While many measures of connectedness are lengthy and designed for elementary grade children, the Connections measure is an efficient, straightforward assessment employed with middle school and high school aged youth and school personnel. The purpose of the current study was to examine student connectedness with adults (including advisory teachers) and peers in relationship to several student outcome variables (i.e., tardy arrivals, attendance, disciplinary referrals, failed courses, and school dropout) when controlling for SES and student qualification for IEP or 504 plan. Results indicated that students with higher levels of perceived connectedness to adults and peers in their school building had more positive school outcomes. Students with higher levels of connectedness had fewer instances of disciplinary referrals and fewer failed courses when compared to peers with lower levels of perceived connectedness. Further, students who named their advisory teacher as an adult connection had fewer instances of tardy arrivals, absences, and failed courses. However, student-perceived connectedness was not a significant predictor of dropout risk. Study limitations and future research directions are discussed

Classification of Singular Fibres on Rational Elliptic Surfaces in Characteristic Three

We determine and list all possible configurations of singular fibres on rational elliptic surfaces in characteristic three. In total, we find that 267 distinct configurations exist. This result complements Miranda and Persson's classification in characteristic zero, and Lang's classification in characteristic two.Comment: 40 Pages. Minor typos correcte