Behavioral choice and demographic consequences of wood frog habitat selection in response to land use

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on February 28, 2008)Vita.Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2007.Land use is a pervasive form of disturbance affecting natural systems on Earth. My dissertation research is set within the context of a large scale project referred to as Land-use Effects on Amphibian Populations (LEAP), where researchers in Maine, Missouri, and South Carolina are determining the effects of timber harvest on the persistence of amphibian populations. The purpose of my dissertation research was to define adult wood frog nonbreeding habitat in continuous oak-hickory forest and in response to timber harvest. I asked research questions that address the two components of habitat selection: 1) the behavioral choice, and 2) the demographic consequences of that choice. To document behavioral choice, I allowed adults to move freely throughout the circular experimental timber harvest arrays (164 m radius) by using standard radiotelemetry techniques. Prior to timber harvest, I found that wood frogs were not distributed equally throughout oak-hickory forest. Adults used drainages as non-breeding habitat. In addition, the number of frogs that migrated to a specific drainage correlated with the distance between the pond and the drainage. Following timber harvest wood frogs avoided clearcuts and increased movement rates in response to timber harvest. Further, I confirmed the consistency of this behavioral response by conducting experimental displacements and found that adults exhibit site fidelity to non-breeding habitat. Frogs displaced to the center of clearcuts evacuated the clearcuts in one night of rain and 20 of 22 frogs displaced back to the pond returned to the same drainage.To determine demographic consequences, I estimated survival of frogs constrained within microhabitats. Desiccation risks for frogs located on forested ridgetops or in exposed areas within clearcuts were severe. Brushpiles within clearcuts provided microhabitats with similar desiccation risks as microhabitats within forested drainages. I also determined survival of transmittered frogs that moved freely among microhabitats by radio-tracking 117 frogs over 3 years. I documented 29 predation events, 13 desiccation events, and 8 mortalities of unknown cause. Using Coxproportional hazard models, I found that survival within the timber harvest array was 1.7 times lower than survival within continuous forest. Survival was lowest during the drought year of 2005 when all desiccation events occurred. My results indicated that predation and desiccation risks near the breeding ponds are ecological pressures that explain why adult amphibians migrate away from breeding habitat during the nonbreeding season.Includes bibliographical references

Technology Use Rationale and Assimilation in the Implementation of Electronic Data Interchange

This study explores how rationales for information technology use relate to the extent of its assimilation in organizations and considers whether and how rationales associated with the technology-in-practice are transformed as the organization makes use of the technology. A multiple-case study of electronic data interchange (EDI) adoption and assimilation was analyzed, looking at both institutional and strategic rationales for EDI use. The degree of assimilation was greatest among those organizations that cited a strategically-oriented rationale for using EDI. The study also found evidence of a shift from institutional to strategic rationales in several organizations as they decided to extend their use of EDI beyond their initial implementation. Shifts in rationale emerged as organizational members gained greater exposure to the organizing vision of the larger EDI community and, to a lesser extent, as they experienced improvements in organizational performance through the use of EDI

Sulfates in Indiana Substrates

This study was undertaken to develop modifications for improving cost and time efficiencies without sacrificing accuracy and precision to the current method employed by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) for determining sulfate content in soils. In addition, GIS maps of Indiana were prepared for displaying the distribution of sulfate concentration in soils and shallow groundwater to provide guidance where high sulfate areas might exist and to show where gaps occur in available data. The IGS study confirmed that the current INDOT test method using 1:20 soil/water ratio and turbidimetric method for analyzing sulfate are optimal. A conductivity screening test on soil leachate eliminated the need to run a turbidity sulfate test for most samples, reducing the time necessary for filtering, and the cost of materials for running the test. Of the 11 samples in this study, 73% had conductivity readings corresponding to Contour maps of the distribution of sulfate in soils and groundwater were prepared with data from multiple agencies. Gaps in the data sets limit the usefulness of the current maps. In places of good data density, areas of minimal sulfate are distinguished from areas with elevated sulfate content, indicating how a more completed data set would be valuable as a guide to problem areas throughout the state. Some areas of elevated groundwater sulfate coincided with elevated soil sulfate, suggesting a correlation. However, the areal distribution gaps in both data sets prevent a more definitive interpretation

Making patient and public involvement in cancer and palliative care research a reality : academic support is vital for success

Objective: Patient and public involvement (PPI)has become an established theme within the UK health research policy and is recognised as an essential force in the drive to improve the quality of services and research. These developments have been particularly rapid in the cancer field. Methods: This paper outlines a model of PPI in research (known as the North Trent Cancer Research Network Consumer Research Panel, NTCRN CRP; comprising 38 cancer and palliative care patients/carers) and the key benefits and challenges to effective PPI in cancer research. Results: The PPI model has become a sustainable, inclusive and effective way of implementing PPI within the cancer context. Challenges include (1) a lack of time and funding available to support the PPI model; (2) tensions between different stakeholder groups when developing and conducting health research; (3) panel members finding it difficult to effectively integrate into research meetings when their role and contribution is not made clear at the outset or when unfamiliar language and jargon are used and not explained; (4) some professionals remain unclear about the role and practical implications of PPI in research. However, notwithstanding its financial and organisational challenges, the way that the NTCRN CRP is supported has provided a solid base for it to flourish. Conclusions: PPI provides considerable opportunities for patients and the public to work collaboratively with professionals to influence the cancer research agenda, with the contribution of PPI to the research process being integral to the entire process from the outset, rather than appended to it.</p

The Importance of Post-Doctoral Program to GME in an Academic Medical Center

Continuous advancements in the medical field and the need to promote scientific evidence has increased the concern for educators to ensure that physician trainees are provided with the appropriate tools and experiences to develop the skills necessary to enhance scientific discovery. To address this requirement, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) implemented core competencies, inclusive of scholarly activity requirements, for accreditation of Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs. These changes have challenged institutions to educate differently and incorporate scholarly activity and research into their curriculum through novel and creative approaches. One such mechanism is the development of post-doctoral research programs which utilize research fellows to provide the necessary support for research productivity across multiple specialties. In the following chapter, the authors will provide some background information on the goals and function of the ACGME, detail the development of the new research requirements, the utilization of post-doctoral research fellows to support the scholarly activity requirement laid out by the ACGME, and potential measures of performance and success

Do accountancy skills of management influence the attainment of key financial objectives in selected South African fast moving consumer goods Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises?

For this study, the primary objective was to ascertain whether accountancy skills of members of management, of selected South African fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) had any influence over the attainment of their respective business entities&rsquo; key financial objectives. In a South African dispensation SMMEs play an important socio-economic role as they add much needed value to the national economy. Unfortunately as much as 75 per cent of these business entities fail after being in operation for less than four years &ndash; a failure rate that is regarded to be among the worst in the world. In order for SMMEs to remain in operation key financial objectives need to be achieved and it is believed that the lack of skills (among other factors) may adversely affect the latter. Descriptive research was performed through the deployment of quantitative research methods whereby a survey was disseminated to 500 members of management of FMCG SMMEs. Stemming from the results, it became apparent that accountancy skills did have a positive statistically significant influence over sampled South African SMMEs&rsquo; attainment of key financial objectives, but only to a marginal extent.For this study, the primary objective was to ascertain whether accountancy skills of members of management, of selected South African fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) had any influence over the attainment of their respective business entities&rsquo; key financial objectives. In a South African dispensation SMMEs play an important socio-economic role as they add much needed value to the national economy. Unfortunately as much as 75 per cent of these business entities fail after being in operation for less than four years &ndash; a failure rate that is regarded to be among the worst in the world. In order for SMMEs to remain in operation key financial objectives need to be achieved and it is believed that the lack of skills (among other factors) may adversely affect the latter. Descriptive research was performed through the deployment of quantitative research methods whereby a survey was disseminated to 500 members of management of FMCG SMMEs. Stemming from the results, it became apparent that accountancy skills did have a positive statistically significant influence over sampled South African SMMEs&rsquo; attainment of key financial objectives, but only to a marginal extent

What makes a mobile app successful in supporting health behaviour change?

YesIntroduction: Health promotion apps designed to support and reinforce health behaviours or to reduce risk behaviours are the most commonly downloaded apps. Such technologies have the potential to reach and deliver health care to new populations. But the extent to which they are successful in enabling the adoption of new and desired behaviours can vary. Some apps are more effective than others, some are free to download while others require a nominal or substantial charge. Cost alone is not indicative of quality or effectiveness. This is important because the use of health apps by the public will likely increase, as is the expectation that health care professionals understand this technology and its heuristic role in personalised health. Practitioners therefore need to be better informed regarding what makes a health app appealing to service users and successful as an intervention to facilitate behaviour change. Objective: This paper describes and discusses how the structure and content of health care apps can facilitate or inhibit behavioural change. The aim is to support practitioners in the screening and identification of suitable apps for clinical use. Method: Theory and literature review. Conclusion: App content that involved clinician input at the design stage and included internal drivers such as motivation, self-efficacy and illness understanding and external drivers such as illness information, social networking and user compatibility tend to do better in facilitating behaviour change than those that do not. Of these factors, motivation is considered to be the most important

Building a Bridge to Next Generation DH Services in Libraries with a Campus Needs Assessment

This poster reports on a needs assessment for digital humanities library services undertaken at large research university in order to provide a basis for transition to a next phase of Digital Humanities (DH) support at a library supporting a growing amount of DH work on campus. It reports key findings and how the library services will evolve to meet needs identified on campus. The full report on which this presentation is based is available at http://hdl.handle.net/2142/100081Ope