A comparison of the external microbial assemblages between native southern strain and wild northern brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, of hatchery ancestry

Hatchery reared, northern strain brook trout have been stocked in streams within the home range of southern strain brook trout in an effort to restore or enhance native trout populations since the late 1800s. But, brook trout native to the southern Appalachians are genetically distinct; raising ecological and ethical concerns regarding the impact of the past stockings. In this study, the external microbial assemblages on native southern and wild fish of hatchery ancestry were compared by characterizing colony morphologies and estimating densities of colony forming units. The hatchery-ancestry fish had significantly higher densities, and assemblages were more similar to that of the surrounding water than those of the southern strain fish. These results suggest that the native southern strain fish exhibit a greater ability to inhibit microbial growth in their epidermal mucus than do the fish with hatchery ancestry

Memory, myth and magic: Revealing the present through the past

The thesis exhibition explores the use of memory and its effect on my evolution of a painting. Using the look of simplistic imagery executed on an intuitive level, I have created a body of work based on memories and daydreams of the distant and recent past. By using memory, rather than observation, as the basis for my paintings I have allowed for the spontaneous development of an image beyond the memory, without the constraints or self-imposed limitations of a model in nature such as a tangible object, figures or photographic references

A History Of The Educational Development Of Glynn County, Georgia

There was a definite need for a detailed account of the history of education in Glynn County, Georgia. Many brief accounts had been made in past years relating some of the history of the county educational system. These brief histories primarily dealt with the history of the town commons. Almost no research had been done on the subject

The Advertising Effectiveness Of Anthropomorphic Spokes Characters Versus Spokespeople In A Collaborative Consumption Service

This thesis explores the comparison of the advertising effectiveness of an anthropomorphic spokes character versus a spokesperson in a collaborative consumption service. Understanding the relationship between spokes characters and spokespersons in advertising as well as the effect this relationship has in a collaborative consumption service setting is of great relevance in marketing. In addition to ad processing outcomes such as attitude towards the ad (A!") attitude towards the brand (A#), attitude towards the spokes characters/person (A$$), Behavioral/purchase intentions (P)), a recently developed Process Fluency scale, is used. Three pretests were conducted in order to develop a final experimental design. Multiple hypotheses are tested through a 1 (home sharing) x 2 (spokesperson versus anthropomorphic spoke character) factorial between-subjects experimental design. The stimuli used was created by the author promoting the services of a new home sharing brand Ädventyr. To test the hypotheses, independent sample t-tests were used comparing the means of the experimental stimuli treatments. Results were mixed with most hypotheses being unsupported. The results contrast extant research on anthropomorphic spokes characters showing that surprisingly, respondents generally responded more negatively to the anthropomorphic spokes character compared to the spokesperson. Results show, decreasing advertising effectiveness of the ad featuring the spokes character. There are strong implications for future researchers and marketers

Changing the social environment in an elementary school to reduce dropout predictors for African American students

Dropping out of school is a serious problem in the United States, especially for African American students. School systems have implemented various prevention and intervention programs to reduce the dropout rate of African American students with only limited success. These programs have generally not included a focus on social climate. Research clearly indicates social climate is directly related to specific behavior and academic predictors of dropout especially for African American students. This study is an examination of an unintentional racism workshop for teachers in a public elementary school, designed to reduce dropout predictors in African American students. The unintentional racism workshop was designed to assist teachers in creating a less threatening environment for African American students while reducing dropout predictors such as low grades, high absences, and discipline problems. This research did not demonstrate significant improvements in student variables such as grades, number of absences, and number of discipline referrals, after one year of implementation, but it did provide important implications and recommendations about future research into dropout prevention programs for African American students

Leisure Time Preferences Of Student Veterans

Since the implementation of the post 9/11 GI Bill, college campuses have seen an increase in the number of student veterans on campus. This student population may have more difficulties than other students in adjusting to campus life, and often have combat-related physical and psychological injuries. Recreation activities have been shown to help improve psychological adjustment to civilian life, and possibly reduce PTSD symptoms, in the broader veteran population. The purpose of the current undergraduate honors thesis was to collect pilot data on leisure preferences of student veterans and investigate possible relationships between these preferences, PTSD symptoms, and perceived stigma. Student veteran participants filled out questionnaires about leisure time preferences, physical activity, PTSD symptomology, and stigma towards seeking psychological help. Results indicated that social and screen time activities played the biggest role in their leisure time. Of the leisure time activities, only sport participation was associated with lower PTSD symptomatology. Previous research has shown participating in sports to be beneficial for mental health, and current survey results are consistent with those findings and also further suggest that watching sports may also be beneficial for the mental health of student veterans

A study of two kinds of activities of preschool children : dressing activities and play activities affected by the homemaker's activities

One of the most difficult problems the average family meets today is that of providing a dwelling which adequately meets its needs, at a cost it can afford to pay. According to Agan: Each period in the family life cycle has its set of circumstances which pose their own unique problems. Aside from the challenging problems of human relations and of the financial and other management of the home, there is also the problem of use of the present dwelling to the best advantage as a background for family life or the choice of another house. For either choice, it is necessary to understand the functions required of the dwelling to carry on all the activities of the family members and to be able to interpret house design in terms of the ease with which these activities can be carried on. . . . The house in whatever form it is, is the center of family life.1 Since the house itself has such a marked effect upon the life that goes on within it, there has been much interest in finding out what makes it livable for different types of families. Research sponsored by the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics and the Agricultural Experiment Station, which seeks to determine the housing preferences of families, is providing a more scientific basis for planning houses to fit family needs. Each of the four regions of the United States has research in progress. North Carolina has chosen for its contribution to the Southern Region housing study, the housing needs of preschool children

Paternal, infant, and social contextual characteristics as determinants of competent parental functioning by fathers with young infants

The purpose of this investigation was to examine factors considered salient to competent parental functioning by fathers with infants. Only recently has fathers' ability to be sensitive, competent parents for infants been recognized. The void remaining in our knowledge of competent parenting by fathers is an identification and understanding of factors associated with fathers' sensitive involvement with infants. The current study sought to explore the association of paternal, infant, and social contextual characteristics with fathers' behaviors during father-infant play. Sixty couples completed questionnaires when their infants were three months old. Fathers completed measures of locus of control, knowledge of infant development, beliefs of effective parenting practices, value of parenthood, infant temperament, spousal support, and participation in infant care activities. Mothers completed measures of infant temperament, paternal participation in infant care activities, and demographic information. When the infants were five to six months old, fathers were observed interacting with their infants in a free-play situation

The Effects of Health Insurance on Health Care in the United States

The development of universal health insurance in the United States has been pending for hundreds of years. As the years progress, the need for such a system increases. The impact of the lack of health insurance is presented from the perspective of someone who works in the healthcare system along with a recipient of healthcare outside of the United States for further comparison. Obamacare has the potential to provide quality universal healthcare, reducing the amount of debt in the United States. In order for our country to move forward, one must recognize the importance of the installation of quality health insurance to alleviate the burden of debt in our country

The Neurosciences and Music Education: An Online Database of Neuromusical Brain Imaging Research

The purpose of this study was to create an online database to organize and summarize the field of neuromusical research (i.e., the study of brain processes involved with musical experiences). The guiding principles of this dissertation were to (1) assess and clarify the current state of neuromusical research, and (2) explore how this research relates to the pedagogical, psychological and philosophical foundations of music education. Given the rise of brain-imaging neuromusical research in the last two decades, in conjunction with a lack of holistic efforts to evaluate these studies, there is a clear need to compile and summarize neuromusical research into a summative database. Until this time, no such resource has existed. The resulting database of this project has been titled the Musical Brain Imaging Research Database (MusicBIRD) and currently holds 473 studies of neuromusical research available online at http://www.uncg.edu/mus/mri/neuromusical.html. Qualifying neuromusical studies were identified with a keyword search for "music" and "brain" in leading electronic research databases (e.g., PubMed and RILM). After reviewing each study, summative information was entered into an electronic storage format within the following data fields: Title, Author(s), Date, Keywords, Source, Volume, Issue, Online Source, and Abstract. A content analysis of the studies in the final database was conducted to reveal trends in neuromusical research and insights for music educators about the role of neuroscience in music teaching. Among the leading trends in neuromusical research identified in the content analysis were the most frequently used brain imaging device (EEG in 28.8% of all MusicBIRD studies), the most common research methodologies - evaluating changes in brain activity due to music processing (35.57% of all MusicBIRD studies), and comparisons between musically and non-musically trained subjects (25.57% of all MusicBIRD studies). The implications of neuromusical research for music educators include a strengthening of the belief that the potential for music processing is ubiquitous to all humans, and that until more longitudinal studies can be conducted, a clear understanding of whether musical training does or does not have an effect on non-musical brain processes (e.g., language skills) is not possible at this time. Based on a review of neuromusical research through 2006, several recommendations for future research include brain imaging scans associated with effective pedagogical music learning practices, longitudinal studies of brain development during periods of musical training (e.g., preschool to adulthood), and investigating the potential for shared, proximal, or distinct neural networks dedicated to music and non-music systems