Examining the Effects of a Comprehensive Community Intervention on Underage Drinking in Seven Kansas Communities

In the United States, underage drinking, or alcohol consumption by individuals younger than 21 years, is the most common type of substance abused by youth. Underage drinking is associated with violent and risky sexual behaviors, and is a major predictor of later alcohol abuse in adulthood. A number of antecedents are associated with underage drinking including social norms, social access, and enforcement of alcohol policies. The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) is a model developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to guide communities in addressing substance abuse through effective prevention efforts. While most states in the nation have received funding to implement the framework, there are few published studies that exist examining the effects of SPF implementation on underage drinking outcomes. The two studies presented in the dissertation used a mixed-methods approach to examine the effects of a comprehensive community intervention on underage drinking outcomes in seven Kansas communities implementing the SPF model. The second study further examines the association between the level of intensity, or dose, of the comprehensive community change interventions (i.e., program, policy, practice changes) across the seven communities and improvements in underage drinking outcomes over time. The results show a 34.3% reduction in past 30-day self-reported alcohol consumption among youth between 2006 and 2012. Additionally, a strong and statistically significant correlation existed between the intensity of community change interventions and underage drinking outcomes. The study provides empirical support for the Strategic Prevention Framework as an effective approach for implementing comprehensive interventions to reduce and prevent underage drinking in communities

Study of Carbon Dioxide Diffusivity Through Sand

The purpose of this study was to measure the diffusion of carbon dioxide through sand and determine the viability of using cheap carbon dioxide sensors to measure diffusion. The data for the study was collected with the use of the K-30 and K-33 ELG carbon dioxide sensors in a diffusion cell set up made from PVC pipe fittings. The carbon dioxide concentration data was taken using software known as �Gaslab� and was interpreted using a program written by the author. The program was designed to run simulations of the column with given diffusivities, and use an optimizer to find the diffusivity that resulted in the least deviation between simulation and data; this diffusivity would then be taken as the diffusivity of the material in the column. Three series of experiments were run, the first quantified the rate of leaking within the column, the second validated the use of the column to measure diffusivity by measuring the diffusivity of carbon dioxide in air, and the third measured the diffusivity of carbon dioxide through dry sand sieved to ASTM 40-80 grain. The measured diffusivity of carbon dioxide through air matched the literature diffusivity and the diffusivity of carbon dioxide through the sand used was found to be (3.5 � 0.49) x 10-7 m2/s. These results suggest that the column set up was adequate for measuring the diffusivity of carbon dioxide through the sand sample, and could be used to measure the diffusivity of carbon dioxide or other gases through sands or porous materials.Chemical Engineerin

Improving community readiness for change through coalition capacity building: Evidence from a multisite intervention

Often, community coalitions are facilitators of community-level changes when addressing underage drinking. Although studies have shown that enhancing coalition capacity is related to improved internal functioning, the relationship between enhanced capacity and community readiness for change is not well established. The present study used a pretest–posttest design to examine whether enhancing coalition capacity through training and technical assistance was associated with improved community readiness and coalition-facilitated community-level changes. Seven Kansas communities engaged in an intensive capacity building intervention through implementation of the Strategic Prevention Framework. The results indicated strong correlations between increased coalition capacity, changes in community readiness stages, and the number of community changes facilitated. The results suggest that strengthening coalition capacity through training and technical assistance may improve community readiness for change and enable the implementation of community-wide program and environmental changes

Spiders of the genus Ctenium

19 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references

Sister species diverge in modality-specific courtship signal form and function

Understanding the relative importance of different sources of selection (e.g., the environment, social/sexual selection) on the divergence or convergence of reproductive communication can shed light on the origin, maintenance, or even disappearance of species boundaries. Using a multistep approach, we tested the hypothesis that two presumed sister species of wolf spider with overlapping ranges and microhabitat use, yet differing degrees of sexual dimorphism, have diverged in their reliance on modality- specific courtship signaling. We predicted that male Schizocosa crassipalpata (no ornamentation) rely predominantly on diet-dependent vibratory signaling for mating success. In contrast, we predicted that male S. bilineata (black foreleg brushes) rely on diet-dependent visual signaling. We first tested and corroborated the sister-species relationship between S. crassipalpata and S. bilineata using phylogenomic scale data. Next, we tested for species-specific, diet-dependent vibratory and visual signaling by manipulating subadult diet and subsequently quantifying adult morphology and mature male courtship signals. As predicted, vibratory signal form was diet-dependent in S. crassipalpata, while visual ornamentation (brush area) was diet-dependent in S. bilineata. We then compared the species-specific reliance on vibratory and visual signaling by recording mating across artificially manipulated signaling environments (presence/absence of each modality in a 2 × 2 full factorial design). In accordance with our diet dependence results for S. crassipalpata, the presence of vibratory signaling was important for mating success. In contrast, the light and vibratory environment interacted to influence mating success in S. bilineata, with vibratory signaling being important only in the absence of light. We found no differences in overall activity patterns. Given that these species overlap in much of their range and microhabitat use, we suggest that competition for signaling space may have led to the divergence and differential use of sensory modalities between these sister species

Morphological Evolution of Spiders Predicted by Pendulum Mechanics

[Background] Animals have been hypothesized to benefit from pendulum mechanics during suspensory locomotion, in which the potential energy of gravity is converted into kinetic energy according to the energy-conservation principle. However, no convincing evidence has been found so far. Demonstrating that morphological evolution follows pendulum mechanics is important from a biomechanical point of view because during suspensory locomotion some morphological traits could be decoupled from gravity, thus allowing independent adaptive morphological evolution of these two traits when compared to animals that move standing on their legs; i.e., as inverted pendulums. If the evolution of body shape matches simple pendulum mechanics, animals that move suspending their bodies should evolve relatively longer legs which must confer high moving capabilities.[Methodology/Principal Findings] We tested this hypothesis in spiders, a group of diverse terrestrial generalist predators in which suspensory locomotion has been lost and gained a few times independently during their evolutionary history. In spiders that hang upside-down from their webs, their legs have evolved disproportionately longer relative to their body sizes when compared to spiders that move standing on their legs. In addition, we show how disproportionately longer legs allow spiders to run faster during suspensory locomotion and how these same spiders run at a slower speed on the ground (i.e., as inverted pendulums). Finally, when suspensory spiders are induced to run on the ground, there is a clear trend in which larger suspensory spiders tend to run much more slowly than similar-size spiders that normally move as inverted pendulums (i.e., wandering spiders).[Conclusions/Significance] Several lines of evidence support the hypothesis that spiders have evolved according to the predictions of pendulum mechanics. These findings have potentially important ecological and evolutionary implications since they could partially explain the occurrence of foraging plasticity and dispersal constraints as well as the evolution of sexual size dimorphism and sociality.This paper has been written under a Ramón y Cajal research contract from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Culture (MEC) to JML and a FPI scholarship (BES-2005-9234) to GC. This work has been funded by MEC grants CGL2004-03153 and CGL2007-60520 to JML and GC, as well as CGL2005-01771 to EMPeer reviewe