Science, perception and scale: an interdisciplinary analysis of environmental change and community adaptive capacity

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2020The discrepancy between science-based assessments of climate change and public acknowledgement of climate change has been extensively documented at a national level. The relationship of science-based assessments and public awareness of environmental change at the local community level is less studied. An understanding of how science-based information informs local perception is important to ensure that science communication effectively supports community decision making. This dissertation explores the gap between science-based assessments and local perception of environmental change within a framework of adaptive capacity. The research is divided into three interrelated studies that provide: 1) an assessment of community perception of local environmental change, 2) a local study that illustrates science-based assessment and reporting, and 3) an evaluation of the role news media plays in communicating science to the public. The first study implemented a survey of residents on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula to evaluate individual perception of environmental change as well as attitudes regarding climate change and natural resource management. Differences in perception of local environmental change were identified among respondents as well as shared perceptions. The use of property regulation to protect the Kenai River was identified as a divisive issue; however, there was a shared concern regarding the condition of local salmon populations. A second science-based ecological study was developed that examined those issues and linked conservation of riparian vegetation to juvenile salmon rearing habitat. This study examined the diet of stream-rearing juvenile Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and determined that the proportion of invertebrates which enter the stream from riparian habitats varied based on vegetation type for three streams in the Kenai watershed. The third study investigated how news media play a role in the interpretation of technical, science-based reporting for the public. It demonstrated that local news media provide a unique opportunity to promote communication of science-based information to their audiences by providing content that is familiar and relevant, offering a variety of topical framings, developing authoritative or trusted voices, and providing frequent exposure to content.Chapter 1: Introduction -- 1.1 Background -- 1.1.1 Science Communication -- 1.1.2 Vulnerability, Resilience, and Adaptive Capacity -- 1.1.3 Adaptive Capacity Framework -- 1.1.4 Social Models of Risk Perception -- 1.1.5 Cognitive Models of Risk Perception -- 1.1.6 Research Overview -- 1.1.7 Socio-Cognitive Model -- 1.1.8 Global Warming, Climate Change, and Environmental Change -- 1.2 Methods -- 1.2.1 Research Approach -- 1.2.2 Organization of the Dissertation -- 1.3 Literature Cited. Chapter 2: Role of Perception in Determining Adaptive Capacity: Communities Adapting to Environmental Change -- 2.1 Abstract -- 2.2 Introduction -- 2.3 Background -- 2.4 Study Area -- 2.5 Methods/Results -- 2.5.1 Construction of Environmental Change Perception Scales -- 2.5.2 Demographics -- 2.5.3 Climate/Environmental Change Attitudes -- 2.5.4 Binary Logistic Model -- 2.5.5 Cultural Consensus Model -- 2.6 Discussion -- 2.6.1 Perception and Variability -- 2.6.2 Perception and Attitudes -- 2.6.3 Perception, Adaptive Capacity, and Communication -- 2.7 Conclusions -- 2.8 Acknowledgements -- 2.9 Literature Cited. Chapter 3: Invertebrate Prey Contributions to Juvenile Coho Salmon Diet from Riparian Habitats along Three Alaska Streams: Implications for Environmental Change -- 3.1 Abstract -- 3.2 Introduction -- 3.3 Materials and Methods -- 3.3.1 Study Area -- 3.3.2 Characterizing Vegetation Type -- 3.3.3 Juvenile Salmon Sampling -- 3.4 Results -- 3.4.1 Vegetation Type -- 3.4.2 Invertebrate Contributions to Juvenile Salmon Diet -- 3.5 Discussion -- 3.6 Acknowledgements -- 3.7 Literature Cited. Chapter 4: Role of Local Media in Promoting Science Communication -- 4.1 Abstract -- 4.2 Introduction -- 4.3 Background -- 4.4 Methods -- 4.5 Results -- 4.5.1 Content -- 4.5.2 Voice -- 4.5.3 Sentiment -- 4.6 Discussion -- 4.7 Acknowledgements -- 4.8 Literature Cited. Chapter 5: Conclusions -- 5.1 Overview -- 5.2 Discussion -- 5.3 Limitations of Research -- 5.4 Future Research -- 5.5 Literature Cited. Chapter 6: Appendix: UAA IRB

Do Close-in Giant Planets Orbiting Evolved Stars Prefer Eccentric Orbits?

Stars and planetary system

Leukocyte CCR2 expression is associated with mini-mental state examination score in older adults

This is a copy of an article published in Rejuvenation Research © 2012 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.; Rejuvenation Research is available online at: http://online.liebertpub.com.Circulating inflammatory markers may play an important role in cognitive impairment at older ages. Mice deficient for the chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 2 (CCR2) develop an accelerated Alzheimer-like pathology. CCR2 is also important in neurogenesis. To identify human gene transcripts most closely associated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, we undertook a genome-wide and inflammation specific transcriptome screen in circulating leukocytes from a population-based sample

Advances in problematic usage of the internet research – A narrative review by experts from the European network for problematic usage of the internet

Global concern about problematic usage of the internet (PUI), and its public health and societal costs, continues to grow, sharpened in focus under the privations of the COVID-19 pandemic. This narrative review reports the expert opinions of members of the largest international network of researchers on PUI in the framework of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action (CA 16207), on the scientific progress made and the critical knowledge gaps remaining to be filled as the term of the Action reaches its conclusion. A key advance has been achieving consensus on the clinical definition of various forms of PUI. Based on the overarching public health principles of protecting individuals and the public from harm and promoting the highest attainable standard of health, the World Health Organisation has introduced several new structured diagnoses into the ICD-11, including gambling disorder, gaming disorder, compulsive sexual behaviour disorder, and other unspecified or specified disorders due to addictive behaviours, alongside naming online activity as a diagnostic specifier. These definitions provide for the first time a sound platform for developing systematic networked research into various forms of PUI at global scale. Progress has also been made in areas such as refining and simplifying some of the available assessment instruments, clarifying the underpinning brain-based and social determinants, and building more empirically based etiological models, as a basis for therapeutic intervention, alongside public engagement initiatives. However, important gaps in our knowledge remain to be tackled. Principal among these include a better understanding of the course and evolution of the PUI-related problems, across different age groups, genders and other specific vulnerable groups, reliable methods for early identification of individuals at risk (before PUI becomes disordered), efficacious preventative and therapeutic interventions and ethical health and social policy changes that adequately safeguard human digital rights. The paper concludes with recommendations for achievable research goals, based on longitudinal analysis of a large multinational cohort co-designed with public stakeholders

Radial velocity confirmation of a hot super-Neptune discovered by TESS with a warm Saturn-mass companion

We report the discovery and confirmation of the planetary system TOI-1288. This late G dwarf harbours two planets: TOI-1288 b and TOI-1288 c. We combine TESS space-borne and ground-based transit photometry with HARPS-N and HIRES high-precision Doppler measurements, which we use to constrain the masses of both planets in the system and the radius of planet b. TOI-1288~b has a period of $2.699835^{+0.000004}_{-0.000003}$ d, a radius of $5.24 \pm 0.09$ R$_\oplus$, and a mass of $42 \pm 3$ M$_\oplus$, making this planet a hot transiting super-Neptune situated right in the Neptunian desert. This desert refers to a paucity of Neptune-sized planets on short period orbits. Our 2.4-year-long Doppler monitoring of TOI-1288 revealed the presence of a Saturn-mass planet on a moderately eccentric orbit ($0.13^{+0.07}_{-0.09}$) with a minimum mass of $84 \pm 7$ M$_\oplus$ and a period of $443^{+11}_{-13}$ d. The 5 sectors worth of TESS data do not cover our expected mid-transit time for TOI-1288 c, and we do not detect a transit for this planet in these sectors.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figures, under review MNRA

A Cross-Study Transcriptional Analysis of Parkinson's Disease

The study of Parkinson's disease (PD), like other complex neurodegenerative disorders, is limited by access to brain tissue from patients with a confirmed diagnosis. Alternatively the study of peripheral tissues may offer some insight into the molecular basis of disease susceptibility and progression, but this approach still relies on brain tissue to benchmark relevant molecular changes against. Several studies have reported whole-genome expression profiling in post-mortem brain but reported concordance between these analyses is lacking. Here we apply a standardised pathway analysis to seven independent case-control studies, and demonstrate increased concordance between data sets. Moreover data convergence increased when the analysis was limited to the five substantia nigra (SN) data sets; this highlighted the down regulation of dopamine receptor signaling and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) signaling pathways. We also show that case-control comparisons of affected post mortem brain tissue are more likely to reflect terminal cytoarchitectural differences rather than primary pathogenic mechanisms. The implementation of a correction factor for dopaminergic neuronal loss predictably resulted in the loss of significance of the dopamine signaling pathway while axon guidance pathways increased in significance. Interestingly the IGF1 signaling pathway was also over-represented when data from non-SN areas, unaffected or only terminally affected in PD, were considered. Our findings suggest that there is greater concordance in PD whole-genome expression profiling when standardised pathway membership rather than ranked gene list is used for comparison