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Oral Memoirs of Mavis Clark: an interview conducted on November 6, 2024
No full textIncludes transcript and two photographs.contained in: Greatest Generation Oral History ArchiveMavis Clark was born on April 5, 1932, and grew up in East Ardsley, Yorkshire, England during World War II. In her interview, she recalls how the Blitz affected her schooling, play, community, family, and mentally. She also talks about rationing, billeting soldiers in her family’s home, and the effects of war on her cousin, a British Navy seaman. Clark discusses what media she listened to on the radio, and how the war affected what was presented. Afterwards, she talks about life after the war–most notably her experience marrying an American soldier and living abroad as an American military wife in Greece, and moving to San Angelo, Texas in the 1960s. Notably, she found community in the local British Wives Club of Goodfellow Air Force Base.San Angelo Area Foundatio
Bat community composition and post-departure degradation patterns of airborne eDNA shed by migratory cave bats
No full textLeptonycteris nivalis (Mexican long-nosed bat) is an endangered species of nectivorous bat known to seasonally occupy Emory Cave in Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA. The endangered status of L. nivalis necessitates regular assessments of population size, habitat use, and roosting behaviors. However, disturbances by researchers may have a negative impact on bat species. In recent years it has been shown that it is possible to characterize a terrestrial vertebrate community using environmental DNA (eDNA) collected from the air, particularly in an enclosed environment such as a cave. Recent studies have surveyed roosts occupied by a small number of bats but have yet to do so in a high-occupancy, high fidelity roost or when a roost has been vacated by the target species. Our objectives were to use airborne eDNA samples from Emory Cave to evaluate eDNA retention inside a bat roost over time and to characterize the bat community inside the cave. We hypothesized that even in their absence, airborne eDNA samples would be able to detect L. nivalis at Emory Cave and identify other species utilizing this roost site. We identified DNA from four bat species, five non-bat mammal species, and two bird species known to use the habitat around the cave. Our results suggest that the amount of eDNA recovered was not related to the length of time since departure of the target species (P = 0.4) but was related to the depth at which samples were collected (P = 0.0002) and the placement of samplers within the roost (P < 0.001). We were able to detect L. nivalis DNA inside the cave 255 days after the bats had vacated the roost, demonstrating the extreme sensitivity of this method. These results indicate that airborne eDNA sampling can provide useful information about cave-roosting species. We recommend further research into the environmental factors that affect airborne eDNA retention and collection in a cave environment
Assessing the role of chemoreception in parasite avoidance in the acute bladder snail Physa acuta from Sunset pond in San Angelo, TX
No full textFreshwater snails such as Physa acuta act as intermediate hosts for a variety of parasitic flatworms in the class Trematoda, incurring high fitness costs due to their exploitation. Due to the long coevolutionary history between parasite and host as well as selective pressure to avoid parasites in their environment, this experiment sought to examine the ability of P. acuta to detect parasites or infected conspecifics using chemoreception, which is a freshwater snail's primary sense to observe their environment. Physa acuta has been repeatedly shown to have a higher parasitic load compared to other freshwater snail species existing in similar environments, so it was hypothesized that P. acuta would be unable to consistently detect parasites in their environment. To test this hypothesis, uninfected and prepatent-infected P. acuta were placed in choice chambers with one chamber containing water taken from wells containing infected conspecifics and the other chamber containing water taken from wells containing uninfected conspecifics. Snails were then observed to determine avoidance of the side containing water from infected conspecifics. Na ve snails raised in captivity as well as wild caught snails were used to identify any response consistent across the species as opposed to responses specific to the environment from which the snails were obtained. Binomial tests and logistic regression were performed in R and used to identify the significance of any avoidance behaviors as well as what metrics may affect detection rate, such as age, parasite species, or prepatent infection status. Results indicate that there is no significant, innate parasite avoidance response in P. acuta. However, infected snails still in the prepatent stage of infection showed consistently higher levels of detection amongst all snails tested. These results indicate the possibility of a learned, adaptive response post-infection in P. acuta which may reduce parasite load and risk of secondary infections
Food novelty, consumption, and nutritional knowledge
No full textThis study examined the relationship between food neophobia (fear of trying new foods), food preferences, and nutritional knowledge among college undergraduate students. The mean age of participants was 20.26 (SD=5.65). Participants indicated their meal plan status, with 48% of the participants reporting that they had a campus meal plan. The Food Neophobia Scale (Pliner & Hobden, 1992) was used to measure levels of food neophobia with this population demonstrating moderate levels of food neophobia M=13.75 (Range=7-19). Participants completed the Food Attitude Scale (Raudenbush et al., 1995) where they were shown 74 food items and prompted to describe their preference (or lack thereof) for each food item. Of the 74 food items, some foods all participants had previously tried (ice cream), while other foods few participants had tried (muktuk). Nutritional knowledge was measured using the Consumer Nutritional Knowledge Scale (Spillmann-Dickson et al., 2011) with participants showing relatively high nutritional knowledge (M=15.33, Range=8-21). Participants also reported on their frequency of visiting on-campus food options with Chick-fil-A being the most popular on-campus dining option. Relationship between levels of neophobia and demographic factors such as age, sex, and academic classification were explored with a positive relationship being observed between food neophobia whereby males showed greater food neophobia (M=15.27, SD= 2.28) as well as greater nutritional knowledge (M=16.87, SD= 2.72)
Evaluation of linseed meal on ovarian follicular development after synchronization in preovulatory small ruminants during seasonal anestrus
No full textSeasonal estrous of small ruminants can hinder overall reproductive efficiency of holistic management strategies involving sheep and goats. The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of increased melatonin containing feed ingredients on ovarian function during seasonal anestrus. Ovarian follicle number and follicle sizes were evaluated on Spanish × Boer cross does and Rambouillet ewes. Females were fed a 2.5% linseed meal diet (P30DIET) or an isocaloric and isonitrogenous control diet (CON). At d -18 ewes and does were stratified by age into treatment groups and the P30DIET and CON diets were supplemented (0.91 kg and 0.68 kg per animal per day for sheep and goats, respectively). Synchronization protocols were administered at d 0 for both groups and ovarian ultrasound measurements were collected 48 h after the removal of the controlled internal drug release device (CIDR). Mixed model procedures of SAS were used to analyze the number of dominant follicles that were present following the synchronization protocols. The number of dominant follicles observed in the P30DIET goats was significantly greater than the CON consuming goats (P < 0.05). Least Squares Means estimates (LSMEANS) in the P30DIET were 1.5 0.20 as compared with CON goats (0.91 0.21). The average area of dominant follicles observed in the in the P30DIET 2 year old (P= 0.002) and 4 year old sheep (P= 0.05) were significantly larger than the dominant follicle area in the 2 year old and 4 year old CON consuming sheep. Least Squares Means estimates in the P30DIET 2 year old sheep were 0.30 cm2 as compared with CON 2 year old sheep 0.11 cm2 and in the P30DIET 4 year old sheep were 0.15 cm2 as compared with CON 4 year old sheep with 0.10 cm2 with a standard error of the mean of 0.06 cm2. These data suggest that flushing small ruminants with linseed meal during the seasonal anestrus period can increase the number of dominant follicles and increase the area of the follicles therefore implying an improvement in reproductive efficiency in holistic management strategies of small ruminants
The psychological effects of a perceived loss to an AI versus a human opponent
No full textAs artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into competitive and evaluative domains, it is important to understand how individuals psychologically respond to AI opponents. This study examined the psychological effects of losing to an AI versus a human opponent in an emotion-recognition task. Participants were N = 77 undergraduate students from Angelo State University who were randomly assigned to compete against either an AI or a human opponent in an emotion-recognition task. Regardless of actual performance, all participants received standardized false feedback indicating they had lost to their opponent in a task involving identifying emotions in dance videos. Following the task, participants completed self-report measures of self-esteem, stress, self-efficacy, and attitudes toward AI. Independent-samples t-tests revealed no statistically significant differences between conditions; however, effect sizes were small to moderate for self-efficacy (d = .36) and attitudes toward AI (d = .33), with participants in the AI condition reporting greater self-efficacy and more positive attitudes toward AI following a loss to their AI opponent. These findings were contrary to the hypothesis that losing to an AI would produce negative psychological outcomes. Instead, the results suggest that participants may perceive AI opponents as less personally threatening and maintain a more favorable view of themselves and the AI system after a loss to AI. Future research should explore the effects of higher-stakes or more personally relevant tasks, as well as the long-term implications of human-AI competition for psychological well-being