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The impact of parental traits, offspring traits, and climate on parental care during the incubation stage in a tropical bird
No full textMany factors could play a role in individual variation in amount and length of parental care. We studied parental care during the incubation period of the Black-capped antshrikes (Thamnophilus atrinucha) in central Panama. Our comprehensive data set allowed us to determine the impacts of parental traits (age and sex), offspring traits (time of year and age of young), and climate (rain and temperature) on variation in parental care within the species. We found that an interaction between sex and age of the adult influenced incubation behavior, while time of the year and age of young did not alter incubation. Perhaps most important, was rain’s significant impact on parental care, with more care in drier years. These results have conservation implications for future parental care, juvenile recruitment, and population trends of the antshrike in the face of a changing tropical climate
Mapping Wyoming\u27s Future: A GIS-Based Mapping Analysis of Wyoming\u27s Industry Assets
No full textTo support economic planning and development in Wyoming, the University of Wyoming (UW), the Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center (WyGISC) and the Wyoming Business Council (WBC) developed a series of over 150 maps intended to communicate various industry assets available in the state to leverage growth and development of associated industry sectors. This paper discusses the context and objectives of this project, the geographic information systems methodology developed for the creation of these maps, a critique of the maps, as well as a demonstration of their intended use
Investigation into the Amino Acid Characteristic of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins
No full textCaulobacter crescentus, which belongs to the class of Alphaproteobacteria, has a highly organized cytoplasm that includes complex macromolecular structures at the cell poles. These polar complexes are assembled through the activity of a scaffolding protein, known as the Polar Organizing Protein Z (PopZ). PopZ interacts with other proteins via an N-terminal domain that is mostly intrinsically disordered, and contains, an abundance of proline, glutamte, and aspartate (P,E, and D) residues. Surprisingly, scrambling the order of amino acids in the PED region does not affect PopZ function, suggesting that binding affinity and specificity are not dependent on interactions with individual amino acids within this low-complexity region. The biochemical qualities of P,E and D promote intrinsic disorder, but they are not the only types of amino acids that are found in unstructured protein domains. By making targeted changes in the PopZ sequence, we are asking if binding affinity and specificity are dependent on qualities associated specifically with P,E, and D (for example, negative charge), or if any form of intrinsic disorder is sufficient to support a functional PopZ binding domain. One change we are making is to substitute all of the prolines for serine. While this will certainly affect the hydrophobicity of the protein, our in silico analyses predict that the change will preserve intrinsic disorder. Another change will be to substitute the asparate and glutamate residue for lysine, thus reversing the electrostatic charge with an amino acid that promotes intrinsic disorder
LokkaL - A Group Location-Sharing Mobile Application
No full textAs smart devices become more and more popular among the general population, their use as a tool of communication is no longer their primary functionality. These devices are being used and treated as miniature computers that provide access to entertainment, email, and many other services. We as a group decided to focus on the location-tracking aspect that many smart devices currently provide in hopes of addressing the problem of visiting a location with a group, splitting up, and being unable to know where other group members are. Our solution was to create a free and easy to use mobile application that allows users to share their current location in real-time and send/receive notifications to other members in their group, while not draining a device’s battery life.
The application is currently designed to run on smart devices running an Android operating system and was built using Android Studio. While other applications currently exist that have similar purposes, our application, LokkaL, was designed to include functionality that is not commonly found in free applications or has not been widely implemented. These features include knowing other members’ battery life, notifying members when another group member has left a marked area, and an easy-to-use interface that allows users to easily create groups with one another. No longer will one have to worry about being unable to locate a group member when traveling to a new city, a concert/music festival, or even just a night downtown
Growing Brave: A Feminist Short Story Inspired by Myth, Folklore, and Fairy Tales
No full textFairy tales are often deemed as nothing more than “children’s stories” or “old wives’ tales.” With this ideology, stories that are seen as “childlike” or “feminine” are somehow labeled as unimportant or silly. However, these tales, as well as their adaptations, are anything but frivolous and trivial. Fairy tales have the unique power to reflect or change the cultural values of a people and era through their morals and lessons. With this project, I will examine this genre of creative writing and rework classic stories from a feminist perspective to reflect the issues and values of the 21st century. I will be writing a short story inspired by myth and fairy tales that feature strong female characters figuring out their own solutions to their problems and becoming their own fairy godmothers. The story focuses on the themes of resilience and courage, individuality, and finding a voice
Cost Analysis for 2017 Wyoming Trichomonas Regulations
No full textThis Cost Benefit Analysis is in reference to the new 2017 Wyoming Trichomonas Regulations and addresses the effect these updates have had on samples received at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory in Laramie, Wyoming. Before 2017 in Wyoming, either a culture or PCR could be performed to test a bull for the presence of Trichomonas. New regulations now require PCR diagnoses to take place. This project covers data collected at the WSVL from 2012 through 2017. Both culture and PCR data were analyzed for 2012 to 2016. Data was split into pre- and post-regulation changes, and then divided further into four yearly quarters. The 2017 data was compared to this line in order to determine if the new rules have had any effect on the number of samples received. The main criteria for determining the cost or benefit due to new regulations are substantial decrease or increase in sample submissions and change of seasonal trends. According to the data analyzed thus far, the Wyoming State Vet Lab is seeing a marked decrease in revenue stream after the implementation of the new Trichomonas feotus regulations. The overall PCR count has remained relatively similar, however, the inability to use culturing as a diagnostic tool is where the drop in sample numbers is taking place. There is a significant price difference in the consumer cost of culturing as compared to PCR, which may be a causative factor in the lack of customers switching test type. The proposed solution is to lower in-house costs to effectively decrease the lab fee for testing at the WSVL
Effects of Dietary Zinc Concentration during Gestation on Preweaning Progeny Performance
No full textMastitis is one of the leading reasons for culling ewes from U.S. flocks, and subclinical mastitis indicated by high somatic cell counts (SCC) in milk has also been shown to negatively impact ewe productivity. However, means to reduce subclinical mastitis and consequential effects on lamb production are sparse. A previous study which found deprived zinc levels in ewes with high SCC suggests that ewes supplemented with zinc may exhibit lower SCC and increased lamb performance (Murphy et al, 2018). In this study, yearling ewes (n = 59) were provided zinc above dietary recommendations during gestation and the effects on lamb performance measured by visual scores at birth and by weight gain. Ewes were divided into three treatment groups in which each ewe received one pound of a zinc sulfate fortified supplement containing 40 mg/kg zinc (control), 500 mg/kg, or 1000 mg/kg from approximately day 70 of gestation until parturition. Providing dietary zinc concentration during gestation did not affect lamb vigor scores, lamb weights, nor pounds of lamb weaned per ewe, but did increase lamb survival (P \u3c 0.05). Pending serum zinc levels and somatic cell counts, along with data from two concurrent collaborative studies will provide further insight to the significance of this project
Rank Function and Outer Inverses
No full textFor the class of matrices over a field, the notion of `rank of a matrix\u27 as defined by `the dimension of subspace generated by columns of that matrix\u27 is folklore and cannot be generalized to the class of matrices over an arbitrary commutative ring. The `determinantal rank\u27 defined by the size of largest submatrix having nonzero determinant, which is same as the column rank of given matrix when the commutative ring under consideration is a field, was considered to be the best alternative for the `rank\u27 in the class of matrices over a commutative ring. Even this determinantal rank and the McCoy rank are not so efficient in describing several characteristics of matrices like in the case of discussing solvability of linear system. In the present article, the `rank--function\u27 associated with the matrix as defined in [{\it Solvability of linear equations and rank--function}, K. Manjunatha Prasad, \url{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00927879708825854}] is discussed and the same is used to provide a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of an outer inverse with specific column space and row space. Also, a rank condition is presented for the existence of Drazin inverse, as a special case of an outer inverse, and an iterative procedure to verify the same in terms of sum of principal minors of the given square matrix over a commutative ring is discussed
Gershgorin type sets for eigenvalues of matrix polynomials
No full textNew localization results for polynomial eigenvalue problems are obtained, by extending the notions of the Gershgorin set, the generalized Gershgorin set, the Brauer set and the Dashnic-Zusmanovich set to the case of matrix polynomials