Modeling Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica) occupancy in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, Mongolia

As the world becomes increasingly populated, humans continue to modify habitats to suit their needs. Mongolia is one of many Asian countries currently undergoing human-induced landscape change, namely in the form of increased grazing pressure on the land by domesticated animals. There is uncertainty as to how wildlife will be impacted by this change. The Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica) is an ungulate classified as IUCN Near Threatened in Mongolia and an important species for tourism. I developed an occupancy model for the species based on radio- telemetry locations (n = 920) collected in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, then estimated the effect of habitat reductions as expected under increasing levels of grazing. I developed 13 candidate models that include combinations of habitat and human variables, and used model selection techniques to evaluate the best-supported model in the set. The model with the most support indicated that rocky outcrop, open plain, and their interaction best described ibex occupancy. Average occupancy was 5.7% across the northern Ikh Nart landscape, 7.4% within the borders of the reserve, and 17.4% within the reserve’s core protected area. Simulations showed that in the absence of open plain habitat, average occupancy declined to 1.9%, 2.1%, and 5.0% respectively in these areas. The results provide a description of how landscape factors shape the distribution of the species. Because livestock grazing is concentrated in open plain habitats, these results may be used to inform decision-making about ibex conservation in the region

How Much Do You Know About Teen Sexual Behavior? A True-False Quiz

Without the facts, it's difficult to develop effective approaches to reduce risky sexual behaviors and prevent teen pregnancy and STD transmission. This Child Trends fact sheet lists ten things that parents, policy makers, and practitioners should know about teen sexual behavior. While all teens who have sex are at risk of pregnancy and STDs, the fact sheet highlights some of the behaviors that put teens at increased risk

Utilisation of mental health services in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University

Worldwide there is an increasing prevalence of psychological disorders. Despite this, research has indicated few people ever use mental health services or receive treatment. Exploration of mental health service use has shown it to be complex and influenced by many personal as well as structural factors. The New Zealand research is limited in its comprehensive examination of the causative factors regarding use of mental health services. It is for this reason that this thesis examined patterns and predictors of mental health service use by using an expanded version of Andersen's Behavioural Model of Health Care Utilisation. This framework enabled a comprehensive exploration of the nature and extent of formal and informal mental health service utilisation in the lower North Island of New Zealand. The results indicated that informal help was used more than formal mental health services. The highest users of mental health services were the least satisfied. Furthermore, the most significant predictors of formal utilisation were having a positive attitude towards mental health services: being female; identifying as Māori; possessing a Community Services Card; and perceived psychological need. However, it emerged that availability of services was the predominant barrier to formal mental health use. In conclusion, the current findings show that certain groups are more likely to utilise a higher frequency of services than other community groups. This suggests mental health services are not distributed equally among communities in the lower North Island of New Zealand. Furthermore, the importance of availability as a predictor of service use indicates that improvements are required at the structural level of the mental health system

Racial Discrimination in a Rural Midwest Town

This study examines how a rural Midwest community views race and discrimination, and how these views affect community members’ experiences. The results of the survey provide a means of determining the lack of cultural competence and discrimination within a rural Midwest populace. The purpose of this research is to examine and analyze individual discrimination and racism in a Midwest rural community. A 10-question survey was administered to teachers, elderly individuals, law enforcement officers, and former students about their experiences with diversity within the community. The questions centered upon topics of race, discrimination, and personal experiences within the community. The data was examined for the emergence of similar themes and experiences of how the participants’ view race, whether they see discrimination as a pressing issue, and their general experiences of living and/or working in a small town. Most of the participants said that they had first been aware of their race around age 6, through cultural events or fellow community members. All participants agreed that racism still exists in America, and highlighted the role social media plays in creating a large virtual world full of different cultures that the rural populace is not able to reach in reality to understand. Based on the results of the survey, the racism in this rural Midwest community is better than in the past, but there is still more intolerance here than in multicultural areas

Analysis of 2018 Human Trafficking Location Data from skipthegames.com

Computer science students in the Shiley School of Engineering complete a capstone project during their senior year. The project discussed here is a result of a collaboration between the Global Emancipation Network (GEN), an industry nonprofit group, and the University of Portland. GEN works to combat human trafficking through analysis of data gathered from a variety of sources and this capstone project worked to look at a subset of data scraped from the escort website skipthegames.com to see if any important trends could be found which could later be applied to prevent human trafficking. The web postings on the website advertised potential trafficking victims for sex work, and these posts were analyzed to correlate users with shared identification information between posts. Itineraries of potential movement of trafficking victims between locations were created to highlight any major trafficking corridors which can show geographical areas for law enforcement focus and reveal patterns of trafficking victim travel that can later contribute to identifying and intervening in specific situations. This capstone project shows the potential of working with large datasets scraped from the web to gather information that can be used to combat human trafficking

BAYESIAN METHODS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF REPORTING ERRORS FOR DATA-SPARSE POPULATION-PERIODS WITH APPLICATIONS TO ESTIMATING MORTALITY

Population level mortality data is often subject to substantial reporting errors due to misclassification of cause of death, misclassification of death status, or age reporting errors. Accuracy of error-prone data sources can be assessed by comparing such data to gold standard data for the same population-period. We present Bayesian methods for assessing the extent of reporting errors across different population-periods and generalizing those to settings where gold-standard data are lacking. Firstly, we investigate misclassification errors of maternal cause of death reporting in civil registration vital statistics data. We use a Bayesian hierarchical bivariate random-walk model to estimate country-year specific sensitivity and specificity in countries with at least one period where vital registration data overlaps with gold standard data. For countries without gold standard data, we developed a sequential approach, in which fixed global estimates of sensitivity and specificity are used. Additionally, we propose a new approach to incorporate temporal structure of misclassification parameters. Secondly, we investigate misreporting of adult mortality in sibling survival history data. Sibling survival histories data suffers from reporting errors due to respondent misreporting of birth year and age at death of their maternal siblings. We perform an exploratory analysis of data collected in Malawi and propose a candidate parametrization for reporting errors in cohort survival probabilities by 5-year age groups. We introduce parameters to capture age-group specific age-at-death errors and birth year reporting errors and define the data generating processes that relate sibling survival data to true survival probabilities while accounting for reporting errors. This framework allows for the estimation of age-group specific survival probabilities in settings where only error-prone sibling survival history data is available

Suicide Prevention and Response in the College Setting

It is imperative for college counselors and higher education personnel to address the prevalence of suicide rates of college students. The purpose of this study is to examine key elements of suicide prevention and response (postvention) strategies that may be implemented in a college setting. The elements of comprehensive campus prevention examined include: Screening methods, gatekeeper training, and policy reform and implementation. The elements of postvention examined include: Campus response, identifying suicide survivors, and community support groups. It is concluded that a comprehensive framework that emphasizes key elements of prevention and postvention is vital for higher education settings

The Human Intruder Test: An Anxiety Assessment in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta)

The human intruder test (HIT) is a noninvasive tool widely used for assessing anxiety in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). This thesis explores the HIT procedure and applies it to a population of monkeys with a self-injurious behavioral pathology. Individual variation on this test can be used to assess anxiety and temperament. The first experiment of this thesis applied two different procedures of the HIT to 17 monkeys at UMass. Monkeys displayed little response to the intruder, and no significant differences were detected for the two procedures. To determine whether these responses were unique to the UMass monkeys, their behavior was then compared to the behavior of monkeys at three other primate facilities. UMass monkeys showed less of a reaction compared to monkeys at other facilities. They came to the front of the cage when the intruder entered the room whereas the monkeys at other facilities moved to the back and showed virtually no threats to the intruder. One possible explanation is the increased exposure to humans that UMass monkeys experience. Even though the human running the HIT was a stranger, monkeys at UMass may not perceive a new human in front of their cage to be a threat. The second experiment tested the hypothesis that monkeys with a record of self-injurious behavior (SIB) would be more anxious in response to the HIT. The cage-side version of the HIT was applied to 41 monkeys with a record of self-injurious behavior and 36 matched controls. In contrast to our prediction, SIB subjects spent significantly less time showing anxious behavior and aggressive behavior toward the intruder as well as spent more time in the front of the cage. SIB subjects showed the same range of behaviors as controls, but significantly less behavioral change overall. These data add to the evidence from experiment one that the HIT may not be a sufficient novelty test to elicit a response in monkeys who are more often exposed to different people. An alternative explanation is that SIB is associated with a depressive like syndrome based on reduced overall activity and possibly lowered affect during the stare phase