Spatially explicit null models in biogeography: Toward a multi-scale understanding of the niche.

In general, most ecologists envision the niche as a central organizing tenet, and that particular parameters of the niche help structure biogeographic patterns of diversity, distribution and abundance. The major emergent alternative to the niche concept requires the inference of background stochasticity, and its application through null models. For example, rather than competitive interactions of species shaping the coexistence of species, historical accidents of dispersal have been suggested. In this thesis I explore, in some detail, the concept of niche using of null models. In this thesis, two detailed and quite different null models are presented. The first, based on the Mid-Domain Effect (MDE), explores the influence of continental geometry on patterns in species richness and range size frequency distributions. I compared the MDE predictions first to observations on tree species richness in continental North America (n = 417 species), and then to amphibian, bird and mammal species richness across North and South America (n = 2216, 3771 and 1605 species, respectively) contrasting the relative contributions of null model results and environmental correlates. I have developed a novel null methodology to predict the niche of a species, or a group of species; I applied this at local and regional scales to examine null spatial distribution predictions for a single, endangered species at the local scale ( Opuntia humifusa at Point Pelee National Park), and for groups of rare species at a regional scale (based on reported occurrences across south-western Ontario). Results can be regarded as representing intermediate states between the extremes of continua of which niche and neutral models form the ends. With respect to the relative strengths of stochastic and deterministic processes, this thesis has characterized the attributes of groups of species. For example, large-ranged NA tree species are influenced by the MDE more than small-ranged species; moreover, regional, null species distribution models performed best for birds, insects, reptiles, sedges, as well as for aquatic and terrestrial plants. It seems most likely that real species distributions are the product of variation in relative strength of stochastic and deterministic processes.Dept. of Biological Sciences. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2006 .V36. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: B, page: 3559. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2006

Language acquisition through digital games

This study strives to answer the question “Do educational video games focusing on language provide a better learning experience than traditional language education?” Research was focused on the differences between the language acquisition and enjoyment that these games provide in contrast to traditional pen-and-paper teaching methods. A literature study showed mixed results as to the effectiveness of these games. A survey, as well as interviews with experts in the field were conducted. This study concluded that while language games are more enjoyable to the student than traditional teaching methods, their use in the classroom does have several disadvantages. This led to the conclusion that while digital language games can be useful teaching tool, they should be used in conjunction with more traditional methods

Self and Other: An fMRI Study of Referential Processing and Retrieval

The self-reference effect has often been used as an indicator of how the brain processes information about ones self. Using fMRI, we studied the neural correlates of the self-reference effect during both encoding and retrieval by means of a unique paradigm of stimuli presentation. Changes in BOLD signal during self-referential processing were compared with those observed during mother-referential processing, and conjunction analysis of these two conditions resulted in joint activations of the superior fontal, inferior frontal and posterior cingulate gyri. Areas of the anterior cingulate gyrus and the visual word form area were observed for self-referential processing and not for mother-referential processing. During retrieval, hippocampal deactivation was observed for all memory tasks vs. the non-memory control task. Furthermore, the hippocampi deactivated less during the recall of self-referenced vs. mother-referenced items. Given that there was no significant difference between mean response times and recall accuracy between these conditions, the differences in deactivation are discussed as a way in which the recall of self-referenced material may be neurofunctionally special. Subjects in this study also performed a social attribution task in which they inferred mental states about geometric shapes. BOLD signal changes during this condition indicated activation of dorsomedial prefrontal cortices (DMPFC), bilateral ventral pathways including the fusiform face area, the amygdalae (right \u3e left), bilateral superior temporal sulci (STS, right \u3e left), anterior fusiform, and bilateral posterior cingulate gyri. In order to explore the areas of overlap between this more abstract social processing and the activations observed in the referential-processing task, an overlay map of these two tasks was created. Overlap was observed in the MPFC, the STS and posterior cingulate cortices. These findings are discussed in the context of a relationship between theory of mind and theory of self, and possible implications for the study of neuropsychiatric disorders are explored

Childhood Fitness and Academic Achievement: An Exploration into the Effect of Physical Fitness Scores on Academic Assessment Tests

This research study examines the correlation between the effects of physical fitness scores on academic assessment tests. The study examines students’ PACER scores and what impact that causes with the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) test. The study included a sample of 147 students from a large Midwestern elementary school of fifth graders. The study found that PACER scores seems to have a positive relationship with students’ MAP scores; that improving on the PACER does not show significant gains to show a connection between the two variables; that high BMI scores can indicate lower MAP scores and that lower BMI scores indicate higher MAP scores; finally that attendance days show a relationship with PACER and MAP scores. This study concluded that BMI, PACER scores, and attendance can show a positive impact on students’ academic performance

Soot Precursor Material: Visualization Via Simultaneous LIF-LII and Characterization Via TEM

Simultaneous combined laser-induced fluorescence and laser-induced incandescence (LIF-LII) images are presented for both a normal and inverse diffusion flame. The excitation wavelength dependence distinguishes the LIF and LII signals in images from the normal diffusion flame while the temporal decay distinguishes the signals in images of the inverse diffusion flame. Each flame presents a minimum in the combined LIF-LII intensity in a region separating the fuel pyrolysis and soot containing regions. Opacity, geometric in definition, and extent of crystallinity measured through both bright and dark field Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) characterizes the thermophoretically sampled material from within this minimal LIF-LII intensity region. TEM analysis reveals rather different soot processes occurring within the normal and inverse diffusion flame. In the normal diffusion flame, rapid chemical and physical coalescence of PAHs results in initial formation of soot precursor particles that are highly crystalline and evolve toward fully formed soot. In the inverse diffusion flame, rapid coalescence of pyrolysis products occurs, producing tarlike, globular structures equivalent in size to fully formed soot aggregates but with markedly less crystallinity than normal-appearing soot. These different material properties are interpreted as reflecting different relative rates of chemical and physical coalescence of fuel pyrolysis products versus carbonization. Significantly, these TEM images support qualitative photophysical arguments suggesting that, in general, this 'dark' region observed in the LIF-LII images demarcates a transitional region in which a fundamental change in the material the material chemical/physical properties occurs between solid carbonaceous soot and condensed or gaseous molecular growth material

Adaptive technology in Southwest Tasmania

Louisa Bay, in southwest Tasmania, was archaeologically investigated during two field seasons, eight weeks in 1975 and four weeks in 1976. A total of six sites were sampled. Sites on Maatsuyker Island, to the south, were investigated over two separate two week periods in 1974 and 1976. This article is intended as a preliminary statement on the Louisa Bay research

A family occupation: children of the war and the memory of World War II in Dutch literature of the 1980s

Many of today's Dutch writers were children during World War II. Even today, the traumatic childhood experience of enemy occupation is still central to the work of many of them. This interest cuts across the traditional boundaries between fiction, autobiography and the literature of trauma and recovery. A Family Occupation is the first English-language introduction to Dutch-language texts written by and about the 'Children of the War' and their cultural context. Their themes and literary conventions throw an interesting light on the Dutch approach to issues such as guilt and innocence, memory and narrative, national identity, child abuse and victimhood

Lunar Dust Chemical, Electrical, and Mechanical Reactivity: Simulation and Characterization

Lunar dust is recognized to be a highly reactive material in its native state. Many, if not all Constellation systems will be affected by its adhesion, abrasion, and reactivity. A critical requirement to develop successful strategies for dealing with lunar dust and designing tolerant systems will be to produce similar material for ground-based testing