Predicting Possible Hydrologic Outcomes for Montane Meadow Ecosystems Following the 2012 - 2015 California Drought

Mountain meadows play a critical role in the hydrology of California\u27s watersheds by preventing flooding, improving water quality, and delivering moisture downstream. In this study, the depth of the water table defines hydrologic health, where a shallow water table is considered a healthy hydrologic system. Meadows are highly sensitive to changes in water availability, making drought a particularly potent threat. This study investigated the health, vegetation distribution, and water balance of a montane meadow (Bluff Meadow) located in the San Bernardino National Forest. By integrating field observations of climate and water table depths in ArcGIS with hydrological modeling, this study assessed the health of the system, evaluated its sensitivity to regional precipitation, and modeled how this critical ecosystem may be irreversibly altered in an ever-warming world. The hydrologic model integrated the major variables of precipitation, surface temperature and humidity (model inputs) to predict the depth of the water table (model output) in both time and space. By calibrating the model against physical measurements of water table depth, predictions were made about the future hydrologic health (water table depth) of Bluff Meadow. Results showed that the drought had a dire effect on the future climate of California, which may be a permanent change. The hydrologic model gives best and worse case scenarios for Bluff Meadow as a result of the drought. If drought-like conditions continue, even with the El Nino this winter, the model predicts that the hydrologic health of the meadow will worsen over time. A recovery from this drought will take more precipitation than just one El Nino winter. Therefore, this study concluded that the 2012 - 2015 California drought was not just an instantaneous event, but a glimpse into California\u27s future climate

Individual Characteristics that Differentiate Change in Parent Emotion Regulation Skills Following Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

42 pages"Child maltreatment (CM) is a substantial public health issue that often results in emotional and psychological impacts on victims and can stem from emotion regulation deficits in caregivers. Although Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is effective at reducing child-maltreating behavior and improving positive parenting strategies, little research has been conducted on whether or not it strengthens parents' emotion regulation skills in the process. This study utilized a behavioral measure of parent emotion regulation (the Emotional Go/No-Go task) to identify subgroups of 88 child welfare-involved parents receiving PCIT whose emotion regulation skills changed the most across treatment. An exploratory analysis was then conducted to identify pre-treatment predictors of change in parent emotion regulation scores. I investigated measures of parent stress, readiness for change, mental health (specifically depression and anxiety measures), and child behavior problem scores. Parents’ mental health and motivation to change were found to significantly predict high changes in parents' reaction time to angry and fearful emotions. Analyzing the predictors that differentiate at-risk parents’ response to PCIT treatment, particularly in terms of their emotion regulation skills is vital in the current efforts to provide effective interventions and understand better how to match individual parents to effective treatments that will prevent CM.

LEG MUSCLE ACTIVATION PATTERNS DURING SIT-TO-STAND UNDER VARIABLE COMPLIANCE SURFACES

The purpose of this study was to look if there were any differences in lower limb muscle activation patterns on various compliance surfaces during a sit-to-stand (STS) task. Previous studies have compared muscle activation patterns on stable versus unstable supporting surfaces but on the current research the surface stability was modified through four eight-way adjustable-stiffness shock absorbers mounted between two force plates creating stiffness conditions ranging from soft to very hard. Seventeen participants that were recruited randomly by a pool of volunteers performed a self-paced STS under eight surface stiffness conditions in randomized order. The mean EMG values of ten muscles during STS on various compliance surfaces were analysed and compared according under distinct phases of force profile. There were no statistically significant differences found in mean EMG of the muscles examined under different supporting surface stiffness conditions. It was found that muscle activation patterns during STS do not significantly change with variations of the surface compliance, suggesting that a STS movement skill is preprogramed, when the STS conditions are not known

A KINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE BREASTROKE KICK

The study investigated the contribution of the ankle joint in the breaststroke kick using three dimensional kinematic analyses. Methodology included applying reference markers to the right leg using anatomical reference points and then videotaping twelve competitive swimmers performing the breaststroke. A Matlab script was used to calculate relative angles (between the foot and shank), angular and relative angular velocities, and linear velocities. The results of a linear regression at

A study of the circulating leucocytes in swine : including the leucocytic response to adrenalin and adrenocorticotrophic hormone

This bulletin reports on Department of Animal Husbandry research project 276, 'Endocrine Secretions'--P. [2].Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references (page [12])

Anatomy of the porcine thyroid

Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references (page 10)

Identification of human biomarkers for cocaine addiction diagnosis

Addiction is a result of long-lasting behavioral changes including tolerance (the need for escalating doses to achieve the same effect) and dependence (physical symptoms manifested during abstinence). It is estimated that 35.3 million Americans have tried cocaine at least once, 6.1 million have used in the past year, and 2.4 million have used it in the past month according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse report in 2006, indicating the need for accurate diagnosis of dependence among a large portion of the population. It is important to diagnose cocaine use and dependence by finding definitive markers, termed biomarkers, of such a disease state. For comparison, blood tests for the presence of cocaine are only effective for the 20 minutes to several hours that the drug remains in the body. At present diagnosis of cocaine dependence requires subjective psychological and physical testing and interviews. The goal is to use microarrays to identify a specific set of biomarkers which can reliably determine a diagnosis of cocaine addiction. The impact of this research includes development of novel pharmacotherapies to prevent addiction and relapse and to improve the quality of life and productivity of addicted and recovering individuals and their communities. This experiment uses global gene expression analysis to identify changes in the RNA of cocaine addicts versus non-addicted individuals. Total RNA is extracted from whole blood samples, purified, hemoglobin transcripts are removed, and RNA is quantified with Nanodrop spectroscopy. The RNA is the hybridized to oligonucleotide microarrays containing 49,000 genes. This project will ultimately produce useful data on diagnostic biomarkers of cocaine addiction. It can help clinicians to diagnose addicts and to determine what drugs a patient has been using long term. The project is a collaboration that will identify correlations between gene expression patterns and subject behavior as reported by UTMB Galveston and UTHSC-Houston, Page 3 thus enabling unambiguous diagnosis of addiction. My role in the project is to obtain high quality, ultra pure RNA from whole blood samples, with the goal of discovering biomarkers of cocaine addiction.Biochemistr