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Supporting LGBTQIA2S+ College Students: Psychological Flexibility and Promoting Verbal Behavior of Support and Inclusion
No full textThe current thesis includes two studies that account for aspects of LGBTQIA2S+ experiences. The first study explored verbal behavior involved in stereotyping. Relational Density Theory (RDT; Belisle & Dixon, 2020) offers a model for conceptualizing relational strength of environmental stimuli, such as those contributing to stereotypes based on sexuality. Participants in the present study completed a multidimensional scaling procedure using an RDT framework by rating the degree of relatedness between stimulus pairings. Stimuli included a series of sexualities (e.g., gay man), as well as adjectives (e.g., masculine). A brief Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, 2004) based defusion exercise was utilized to weaken relational classes involved in stereotyping. Participant responses indicated that straight men are perceived as more natural, realistic, masculine, monogamous, and athletic compared to straight women, gay men, lesbian women, bisexual men, and bisexual women. After completing a defusion intervention, changes were observed in relational classes in which all identity stimuli were seen as highly related to one another. The second line of research in this thesis explored experiences of well-being in LGBTQIA2S+ college students enrolled at a Midwestern university in the United States. This correlational procedure indicated that LGBTQIA2S+ students reported lower psychological flexibility, student well-being, self-compassion, perceived social support, and GPA when compared to non-LGBTQIA2S+ students. Both of these studies highlight a significant need for more initiatives involving support and inclusion for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals involving efforts at all levels of high-impact systems such as universities
Effect of Color on License Plate Recall
Get PDFAccurate and quick license plate recall is important for identification purposes, especially in emergency situations, such as hit-and-runs. Previous research has shown that there are particular patterns of license plate designs that are easier to recall, such as a higher digit to letter ratio. Missouri license plate patterns (AB1-C2D) somewhat diverge from what research suggests works best for recall. The current study sought to determine if including color into license plate designs would improve recall. There were 48 undergraduate students from Missouri State University who participated in the experiment. Participants saw 100 timed trials of license plate stimuli, where they saw the stimuli for half a second, waited six seconds, then had 10 seconds to recall the license plate stimulus they saw. Participants randomly saw one of two formats for the license plate stimuli; either the digits in the stimuli would be in color or the stimuli would be in all-black text. The hypothesis that the inclusion of color would improve recall was not supported, as there were no significant differences in recall between the two groups based on format. While color may be useful, future research should continue to look for additional ways to improve designs that would be easy to implement
Sex-Dependent Effects of Induced Acute Inflammation on Glucose Homeostasis and RNA Editing Enzymes
No full textThe first line of defense against bodily insults, like pathogen invasion, is the innate immune system. Innate immunity sets in motion countless cascades that result in inflammation. Inflammation simultaneously affects multiple biological processes like metabolism and gene expression. Males and females react differently to inflammation. To understand both molecular and physiological sex differences in inflammation, we examined how inflammation affects gene expression and glucose metabolism. Adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR1) is upregulated by inflammation and catalyzes RNA editing, a process where nucleotides encoded by the genome are modified. ADAR1 also controls the innate immune reaction by decreasing activity of a cytoplasmic RNA sensor, MDA-5. While MDA-5 expression is sex-dependent, differences in ADAR1 levels are unexplored. To look at how inflammation affects ADAR1 expression was measured from male and female mice injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an agent known to cause inflammation. In order to look at the sex-dependent effects of inflammation on physiology, glucose tolerance tests were also done in LPS treated mice. Mice treated with LPS showed increased levels of ADAR1 and cytokines, as expected. There was also a sex-dependent effect on glucose tolerance, where inflammation affected blood glucose levels to a greater extent in male inflamed mice, compared to control males, or any female mice. The data suggests that inflammation induces insulin resistance in a sex-dependent manner and that female mice are protected from inflammation-dependent changes in glucose tolerance. We anticipate this information will help us understand sex-disparities in inflammatory-related disease progression and outcome
Centrifugation Cushion vs. Spermfilter™: Effects On % Recovery
No full textIt has been demonstrated that removing seminal plasma and resuspension of the sperm pellet in various diluents will improve the post-storage motility of spermatozoa from some stallions. This typically involves centrifugation. However, a sperm filtering device marketed by Botupharma (Phoenix, AZ) allows seminal plasma removal without a centrifuge. This study compared spermatozoa recovery rates using this device vs. centrifugation with and without a cushion. Thirteen ejaculates were collected from three quarter horse stallions. Prior to treatment, aliquots were diluted with Dulbecco\u27s modified PBS at a dilution rate of 1:1. For the two centrifugation treatments, 12 ml of the diluted semen was placed in a 15 ml conical bottom tube and centrifuged at 1000g for 20 minutes with Red Cushion™, (Botupharma), or at 400g for 10 minutes without a cushion. Aliquots for the third treatment were also diluted 1:1, and 20 ml of the solution pour into the SpermFilter™ (Botupharma) for separation. The aliquots\u27 concentration before and after dilution, filtration, or centrifugation was measured using a densimeter device (ARS, Chino, CA). In addition, following all procedures, the sperm pellet was resuspended with the same solution and again subjected to analysis for concentration with the Densimeter to determine the % of spermatozoa recovered. Data was analyzed by One-way ANOVA with Tukey\u27s test for pairwise comparisons. Average % recovery rates were 69.4% and 60.9% for aliquots centrifuged without and with a cushion, compared to 77.6% for the SpermFilter™ treatment. In this experiment, the % recovery was lower (
Distribution Patterns of Allorhizobium Vitis in Missouri Vineyards and Non-Vineyard Soils
No full textCrown gall disease causes significant economic loss to the grape and wine industry. Preventive strategies are most effective for mitigating the loss of grapevines in vineyards, as there is no known cure for this disease. The bacterium Allorhizobium vitis carrying a tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid is the causative agent. A. vitis bacteria live systemically in the grapevine before causing visible symptoms and can survive in residual plant tissues and soil for more than two years. Diagnostic methods have been developed to detect A. vitis bacteria in grapevines and soil. However, more reliable, specific, and high-throughput diagnostics are still needed for screening nursery stocks and soil. We have found primer sets unique to A. vitis on the Ti plasmid’s origin of replication and virulence regions. We have developed procedures and protocols for reliably detecting A. vitis bacteria. We surveyed the incidence of A. vitis in five vineyards and six non-vineyard sites, covering three Missouri AVAs (American Viticultural Areas). We report the distribution of A. vitis in canes and soils within these sites. Our results show that A. vitis bacteria are present near and within the sampled vineyard soil and soils taken from non-vineyard areas across the state. Whether they are tumorigenic requires further investigation. The outcomes from this research will help the grape and wine industry to develop effective strategies for preventing and managing crown gall disease in vineyards
Implications for Defense Strategy Stemming From Geopolitical Transformation Fueled by Climate Change
No full textClimate change has quickly become one of the most globally significant geopolitical issues facing all of humanity. Left unfettered, climate change is poised to impact nearly every facet of our environment ranging from increasingly dangerous and damaging storms, rising sea levels, increasingly extensive droughts to glacial melting, loss of arctic sea ice and a myriad of other catastrophic events. While still evolving, the current identified environmental threats will initiate long standing impacts not only to the environment, but to the global geopolitical and security climate of nearly every nation on the Earth. This project will not provide a synthesis of the contested existence of climate change, nor will it provide an argument either for or against any particular climate change theory, rather it will examine the potential geopolitical ramifications resulting from the assortment of global impacts that could be experienced if global climate policies fail to slow its progression. The project will first identify the reported climate change status, as well as the various efforts by the global community to halt any worsening of these changes and reduce the impact of our industrialization on the planet. Next it will examine three specific regions that are forecast to experience elements of climate change, the predicted climate change impacts to that region, the regional geopolitical impacts of those changes, and finally the impact of those geopolitical changes to US strategic and security interests
Evaluating Contextual Factors Surrounding Romantic Infidelity and Reentry Support for Prisoners Using Behavior Analytic Research Methods
No full textTranslational research combines application of fundamental principles with the concern for everyday issues and outcomes, which makes it possible to use translational research to address these societal issues (Mace and Critchfield, 2010). This thesis combines and discusses two multi-authored manuscripts centered around translational research. In the first manuscript, participants completed a probability discounting task developed by the experimenters under the hypothetical situation of being in a relationship with moderate or low satisfaction. In the task, participants chose to cheat or not cheat on their partner as a function of the subjective attractiveness of the non-partner and the probability of getting caught by their partner. Half of the participants then completed the same task after watching a 5-minute arousing scene from a or a 5-minute guided meditation. Results showed that the overall probability of infidelity was greater with lower relationship satisfaction. In the second manuscript, was a translational analysis of Relational Density theory (RDT; Belisle and Dixon, 2020). To construct a geometric representation of their perspective of the relationship between various crimes, a multidimensional scaling procedure was utilized. Participants also completed a reentry switch point task in which they determined how much monthly assistance a prisoner should receive based on the crime they committed. Results showed that participants gave less monthly assistance to prisoners who committed a crime they perceived as more severe based on dimensional units in the geometric space. Taken together, these manuscripts demonstrate the utility of translational research in behavior analysis to bridge the gap between basic behavior change principles and issues of social relevance
Computational Comparison of Platinum, Base Metals, and Binary Intermetallic Compounds’ Efficiency in Hydrogenation Catalysis
No full textIn the petroleum industry, platinum is used as a catalyst in hydrogenation reactions during petroleum refining. Although platinum is extremely effective as a catalyst, it is expensive. This is an investigation into platinum and what characteristics make it so efficient, with the end goal of finding intermetallic compounds composed of base metals that are as effective in hydrogenation catalysis. The metals used in this investigation are Fe, Co, Ni, Mo, and W. The research performed here is computational and used to support and direct decisions made in the laboratory. The computation is first-principle, which is accomplished using Vienna Ab initio Simulation Packaging (VASP). VASP is used to simulate the adsorption of H2 and ethylene on the surfaces of Pt, Pd, Fe, Co, Ni, Mo, W, and binary compounds Co3Mo and Fe7Mo6. These simulations allow for the evaluation of adsorption energy, the density of states, and electronic band structures for the metal surfaces and their interactions with the molecular orbitals of H2 and ethylene. The relationship between these computational results and the catalytic performance of these metals are investigated in order to understand what characteristics in Pt’s electronic structure makes it a more effective hydrogenation catalyst. Information gained through the calculations can give insight into which characteristics are desired and could give rise to an intermetallic binary compound that is as effective in hydrogenation catalysts
Investigation of Inflammation and Apoptosis Mediated Toxicity in Response to Metal Oxide Nanoparticles in ML-1 and CA77 Cancer Cell Lines
No full textMetal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) are becoming more popular in today’s environment. They contribute significantly to the technologies in agriculture and food development but there is little understanding to how MONPs, including ZnO, CuO, TiO2, and SnO2, impact human health and the environment. Our growth assay revealed that none of these negatively affects viability in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In contrast, both human thyroid cancer cells (ML-1) and rat medullary thyroid cancer cells (CA77) displayed a significant reduction in viability with the treatment of CuO and ZnO. The production of ROS in these cell lines when treated with CuO and ZnO was found to be not significantly altered. However, levels of apoptosis with ZnO and CuO were increased, which led us to conclude that the decreased cell viability is mainly caused by non-ROS-mediated cell death. Consistently, data from our RNAseq studies identified differentially regulated pathways associated with inflammation, Wnt, and cadherin signaling across both cell lines, ML-1 and CA77, after ZnO or CuO NP treatment. Results from gene studies further support non-ROS mediated apoptosis being the main factor behind decreased cell viability. Together, these findings provide unique evidence that the apoptosis in response to the treatment of CuO and ZnO in these thyroid cancer cells was not mainly due to oxidative stress but to the alteration of a range of signal cascades that promotes cell death
A Music Teacher’s Use of Informances With Primary Level Classes and Study of Family Attitudes for Music Education: An Action Research Study
No full textConcerts are often the summative project for the elementary music room. However, the emphasis on concerts creates challenges for music instruction. The preparation for a traditional concert often takes away from instructional time, which is already limited for music instruction. Second, the use of concerts conceals many aspects of the instructional process from students’ families. This results in a limited view and understanding of their child’s formal musical education. By designing opportunities for parents and other stakeholders to see students beyond a traditional concert, I thought that I could help to deepen families understanding of music education in my elementary school programs. Informances are performance opportunities during which students demonstrate their learning in the music classroom with an audience present. In this action research study, I developed and implemented informances with the intent to bring forth positive change in my classroom and explore parental and family attitudes. I discuss my perceptions on the experience and how I intend to use a balance of traditional concerts and informances to build deeper partnerships with families through my teaching. My intentions for my program are described in the discussion