Preliminary Investigation of Food Guarding Behavior in Shelter Dogs in the United States

Even though food guarding is an adaptive trait for dogs, they are often euthanized when they exhibit this behavior while at an animal shelter. This research demonstrates some dogs that guard their food can be adopted and guarding is seldom seen in the home. Based on post-adoption follow-up of the dogs selected for the program, guarding behavior was rarely reported during the first three weeks, and by three months, adopters reported no food bowl guarding behavior. The adopters reported being highly bonded with these dogs and return rates were lower than general shelter dog population. Placing food guarding dogs into homes and providing follow-up support for adopters can provide a life-saving safety net for many shelters

Design and use of novel non-invasive head immobilisation method for investigation of behavioural and functional asymmetries in non-human primate auditory cortex

PhD ThesisThis project was initiated with two goals in mind. The first, to refine methods of head immobilisation for rhesus macaques participating in experiments which do not require direct access to the brain, and the second to investigate the effect of attention on lateralisation in auditory cortex. Head immobilisation is often necessary for neuroscientific procedures. A number of Non-invasive Head Immobilisation Systems (NHIS) for monkeys are available, but the need remains for a feasible integrated system combining a broad range of essential features. This thesis details the development of an individually customised macaque NHIS which addresses several animal welfare and scientific needs. The system comprises a customised facemask that can be used separately or combined with a back piece to form a full head helmet. The system was evaluated during performance on several auditory or visual behavioural tasks with testing sessions lasting 1.5-2hrs. To investigate the effect of attention on lateralised processes, four male rhesus macaques were trained to perform an active auditory spatial discrimination task (two of which used the NHIS) using either conspecific “coo” vocalisations or a coo vocalisation from a different individual which had the phase information scrambled, but preserved the spectral components (sCoo). Behavioural results indicated a directional bias during the task with coos, with the animals performing the task with ease when the coo initially appeared on the left but performance being hindered when the coo first appeared on the right. No bias was observed with an animal initially trained with the noise. Attention effects on hemispheric laterality were then studied using fMRI with the trained animals and, as a point of reference, a naïve animal who was passively presented with the task stimuli. The results shown have implications for the control of attention when investigating lateralised processing in both human and non-human species. Additionally, it is conclusively shown that auditory fMRI and behavioural experiments can be conducted without the need for invasive head immobilisation techniques in rhesus macaques

Perspective: Treating electron over-delocalization with the DFT+U method

Many people in the materials science and solid-state community are familiar with the acronym “DFT+U.” For those less familiar, this technique uses ideas from model Hamiltonians that permit the description of both metals and insulators to address problems of electron over-delocalization in practical implementations of density functional theory (DFT). Exchange-correlation functionals in DFT are often described as belonging to a hierarchical “Jacob’s ladder” of increasing accuracy in moving from local to non-local descriptions of exchange and correlation. DFT+U is not on this “ladder” but rather acts as an “elevator” because it systematically tunes relative energetics, typically on a localized subshell (e.g., d or f electrons), regardless of the underlying functional employed. However, this tuning is based on a metric of the local electron density of the subshells being addressed, thus necessitating physical or chemical or intuition about the system of interest. I will provide a brief overview of the history of how DFT+U came to be starting from the origin of the Hubbard and Anderson model Hamiltonians. This history lesson is necessary because it permits us to make the connections between the “Hubbard U” and fundamental outstanding challenges in electronic structure theory, and it helps to explain why this method is so widely applied to transition-metal oxides and organometallic complexes alike.Burroughs Wellcome Fund (Career Award at the Scientific Interface)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Support CorporationNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (ECCS-1449291)MIT Energy InitiativeMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering (Startup Funds

Assessment of an Alaskan willow with potential for polychlorinated biphenyl rhizoremediation

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010"Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) are priority pollutants targeted for remediation efforts in many areas of the world. Rhizoremediation, the use of plants and their associated root microorganisms for the degradation of a pollutant, may be an inexpensive and effective approach to biodegrading PCBs and detoxifying contaminated soils in situ. Two Alaskan native tree species, Salix alaxensis (willow) or Picea glauca (white spruce), were assessed for the ability to stimulate microbial PCB degradation by measuring PCB loss, toxicity and microbial community shifts in soil microcosms following the addition of crushed roots. Incubation of polluted soils with root crushates of S. alaxensis led to significant losses (up to 30% in 180 days) of several PCB congeners, including many of the most toxic congeners, PCB 77, 105 and 169. Soil toxicity, measured using the Microtox assay, also decreased as a result of treatment with willow-roots. Treatment of soils with salicylate, a willow secondary compound hypothesized to promote aromatic pollutant biodegradation, inhibited PCB degradation, suggesting that other willow biodegradation are responsible for biostimulation. The disappearance of PCB congeners, detoxification of soil, and detection of microbes with PCB degrading abilities suggests that S. alaxensis is a promising plant candidate for rhizoremediation of PCBs"--Leaf iiiIntroduction -- 1. Rhizoremediation of PCB contaminated soils : a review -- 2. Assessment of an Alaskan willow, Salix alaxensis, with potential for PCB rhizoremediation -- 3. Supplemental studies -- Conclusion

Functional Imaging of Audio-Visual Selective Attention in Monkeys and Humans : How do Lapses in Monkey Performance Affect Cross-Species Correspondences?

The cross-species correspondences and differences in how attention modulates brain responses in humans and animal models are poorly understood. We trained 2 monkeys to perform an audio-visual selective attention task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), rewarding them to attend to stimuli in one modality while ignoring those in the other. Monkey fMRI identified regions strongly modulated by auditory or visual attention. Surprisingly, auditory attention-related modulations were much more restricted in monkeys than humans performing the same tasks during fMRI. Further analyses ruled out trivial explanations, suggesting that labile selective-attention performance was associated with inhomogeneous modulations in wide cortical regions in the monkeys. The findings provide initial insights into how audio-visual selective attention modulates the primate brain, identify sources for "lost" attention effects in monkeys, and carry implications for modeling the neurobiology of human cognition with nonhuman animals.Peer reviewe

Putting Food on The Table Project Toolkit

A toolkit to help community groups and members understand and address the food security needs of older adults in their community.https://source.sheridancollege.ca/centres_elder_food_toolkit/1000/thumbnail.jp

Comparison of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide in children and young people in care and non-care populations: systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence

Suicide in children and young people is a major public health concern. However, it is unknown whether individuals who have been in the care of the child welfare system are at an elevated risk. Care is presently defined as statutory provision of in-home care (e.g. child living with birth family but in receipt of legal order involving supervision by social workers) or out-of-home care (e.g. foster care, residential care and kinship care). This present paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide in children and young people placed in care with non-care populations. A systematic search was conducted of 14 electronic bibliographic databases and 32 websites. Of 2811 unique articles identified, five studies published between 2001 and 2011 met the inclusion criteria. Studies reported on 2448 incidents of suicidal ideation, 3456 attempted suicides and 250 suicides. The estimated prevalence of suicidal ideation was 24.7% in children and young people in care compared to 11.4% in non-care populations. The prevalence of suicide attempt was 3.6% compared to 0.8%. Two studies reported on suicide. Suicide risk in children and young people in care was lower in one study (0% vs 0.9%) and higher in the second (0.27% vs 0.06%). The results of the systematic review and metaanalysis confirm that suicide attempts are more than three times as likely in children and young people placed in the care compared to non-care populations. Targeted interventions to prevent or reduce suicide attempt in this population may be required. Further comparative studies are needed to establish if children and young people in care are at an elevated risk of suicidal ideation and suicide

Auditory artificial grammar learning in macaque and marmoset monkeys.

Artificial grammars (AG) are designed to emulate aspects of the structure of language, and AG learning (AGL) paradigms can be used to study the extent of nonhuman animals' structure-learning capabilities. However, different AG structures have been used with nonhuman animals and are difficult to compare across studies and species. We developed a simple quantitative parameter space, which we used to summarize previous nonhuman animal AGL results. This was used to highlight an under-studied AG with a forward-branching structure, designed to model certain aspects of the nondeterministic nature of word transitions in natural language and animal song. We tested whether two monkey species could learn aspects of this auditory AG. After habituating the monkeys to the AG, analysis of video recordings showed that common marmosets (New World monkeys) differentiated between well formed, correct testing sequences and those violating the AG structure based primarily on simple learning strategies. By comparison, Rhesus macaques (Old World monkeys) showed evidence for deeper levels of AGL. A novel eye-tracking approach confirmed this result in the macaques and demonstrated evidence for more complex AGL. This study provides evidence for a previously unknown level of AGL complexity in Old World monkeys that seems less evident in New World monkeys, which are more distant evolutionary relatives to humans. The findings allow for the development of both marmosets and macaques as neurobiological model systems to study different aspects of AGL at the neuronal level

Radio, ICT Convergence and Knowledge Brokerage: Lessons from Sub?Saharan Africa

This article examines the changing role of radio for development in sub?Saharan Africa as ‘new’ Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) increasingly enter the information landscape. Grounded in the empirical findings of a research programme – Radio, Convergence and Development in Africa (RCDA) – it explores the potential for convergent communication technologies to improve knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing between development actors at all levels. By drawing on research carried out as part of the RCDA programme, this article raises questions about the ability for radio broadcasters to act as ‘knowledge intermediaries’ in this context – brokering and translating information about development issues between international non?governmental organisations (NGOs), local NGOs, grassroots advocacy groups and local beneficiaries. It draws attention to the barriers impeding their ability to fulfill this role by highlighting issues related to ICT convergence, capacity, funding and ‘NGO?isation’