Significance and integrity are key concepts for archaeology, and how they are judged is determined by an archaeologist’s perceptions of disturbance. This thesis explicitly considers these concepts and how they relate to evolutionary theory and National Register eligibility. A site with known disturbance was chosen to determine whether it could be judged significant assuming that there was no disturbance. Controlled surface collection, magnetometer survey, excavation and landowner interview data were used to determine whether what made the site significant had been lost due to disturbance. The results indicate that the co-mingling of occupations in the plow zone normally would have prevented the site from being determined eligible. However, because of the clusters of Gulf Formational-period diagnostics and intact Early Archaic midden, the site was determined significant. If future work were to be performed, occupation-based work focusing on the artifact clusters and the Archaic midden is recommended.

Periodic disturbance in CP33 habitat buffers is required to maintain early-successional plant communities for grassland birds. However, effects of disturbance on habitat suitability and nesting success of grassland birds are unknown. Furthermore, the grassland bird community and reproductive performance in CP33 habitat buffers may be influenced by the landscape context (e.g., edge habitat, surrounding land cover). My objectives for this study were to determine how periodic disturbance and the agricultural landscape mosaic influence the breeding grassland bird community in buffers, and how these same factors influence grassland bird nesting success and density in buffers. Data collected during line-transect surveys conducted in CP33 habitat buffers in northeast Mississippi during the 2007-2009 breeding seasons demonstrate periodic disturbance through prescribed burning and light strip-disking does not influence breeding bird diversity or density in buffers. Buffers with woodland at the non-crop edge, however, had the least grassland bird diversity. Dickcissels, one of the most abundant grassland bird species detected in buffers, had a lesser, though non-significant, density in woodland-bordered than in grassland-bordered buffers. I estimated nest success of Dickcissels and Red-winged Blackbirds using maximum likelihood approaches modeling daily survival rates of nests in Program MARK. Analysis results indicated periodic disturbance did not inform models of nest success for either species to an extent requiring inclusion in the best approximating model. Both species, however, had greater nest densities in control and burned buffers than in disked buffers, as well as adjacent to grassland and crop edges. Dickcissel nest success was associated negatively to proximity of developed areas and amount of land cover in crop production, and associated positively with nest height. Red-winged Blackbird nest success decreased with increasing distance from a crop edge and decreasing height of surrounding vegetation, but increased with greater amounts of ground cover. Results from this study will assist land managers with selecting land for enrollment in CP33 that will maximize producers’ conservation goals while minimally impacting crop production, as well as assist with development and refinement of USDA-NRCS Practice Standards, documentation of ecological benefits of federally subsidized conservation practices, and enhancement of wildlife benefits in agriculture-dominated landscapes.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that has been shown to produce sleep disturbances, and the deterioration of sleep quality is associated with drug abuse and relapse in humans. The hypocretin/orexin neuropeptide system is a plausible pharmacological target, and dual-hypocretin antagonists such as lemborexant may mitigate sleep disturbances associated with fentanyl dependence. The current study characterizes sleep macroarchitecture (time spent asleep or awake) and microarchitecture (the number of bouts, and NREM sleep spindle characterization) prior to fentanyl vapor exposure (baseline), following one week of drug abstinence, and four weeks of drug abstinence in female and male rats. Females and males showed a reduction in the amount of time spent in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep following one week of abstinence. The pre-treatment of lemborexant the following day increased the amount of time spent in REM, compared to vehicle at both one and four weeks of abstinence. While there was no effect of fentanyl abstinence on the amount of time spent in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and wakefulness, lemborexant increased the amount time spent in NREM and decreased the amount of time spent awake. Examination of microarchitecture demonstrated a decrease in the number of NREM bouts at one week of abstinence, which lemborexant subsequently brought back to baseline levels at weeks one and four. Abstinence from fentanyl did not impact the number of NREM sleep spindles, but indicated a trend showing a decrease in intra-spindle frequency at one week of abstinence. Lemborexant, however, increased the number of spindles at weeks one and four of abstinence. Presently, findings indicate that fentanyl abstinence produces changes in sleep macroarchitecture, particularly REM sleep disruptions, which may be alleviated by lemborexant. This highlights the need for further examination of the relationship between sleep disturbances and drug abstinence, and the use of dual-hypocretin antagonists as therapeutic intervention.

Body image disturbance has become an increasing problem among women (Cash & Henry, 1995). Thus researchers have begun to focus on methods of prevention and intervention. Programs utilizing psychoeducation and Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, for example, have been found to reduce body image dissatisfaction and related symptomatology. The information provided and potential impact are limited, however, because the interventions do not offer women an adaptive method of interpreting the many appearance-related messages they experience. This study sought to determine if exposure to feminist theory of body image may act as a buffer – a filter through which cultural messages about thinness and beauty are challenged. This feminist schema may provide an alternative interpretation of cultural messages, thereby increasing body image satisfaction. Participants were exposed to one of three interventions (feminist, psychoeducational, control). Exposure to the feminist condition resulted in increased physical appearance satisfaction and likelihood to self-identify as a feminist when compared with the control group. While findings were not extensive, they are nonetheless promising due to the brevity of the intervention.

An alternate method for mitigating the depredating physiological affects of a soldiers marksmanship due to combat stressors can be achieved through the design and implementation of a active stabilization system for small arms weapons. The INSTAR system is an innovative active stabilization system designed to decouple the shooter's disturbance effects from the barrel movement. The INSTAR system uses an piezoelectric actuator separating the barrel of the rifle from its stock to stabilize barrel movement. This paper uses various control techniques to develop control algorithms for simulation. The level of performance for each control algorithm is based on how well each they measure up to the criteria developed from the INSTAR system. This paper furthers research on INSTAR by developing and comparing four control designs that may be implemented within the INSTAR system. / Master of Science

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / This is a study of thirteen families with an emotionally disturbed child, who reapplied to the Douglas A. Thom Clinic for Children after the termination of a treatment contact. The study explored (1) factors which might reflect that these parents will reapply; (2) factors existing at termination of the first contact which might relate to the bases on which these cases were reaccepted for further treatment, if this occurred; and (3) factors relating to the use of help when they reapplied.

The population of students with emotional and behavioral needs represent a significant proportion of the population of students in today's public schools. To help meet their needs, consultants from outside mental health agencies are often contracted to support school personnel who work with these students. There is little research, however, on this practice, its implementation, or its effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of consultation among teachers, counselors, and administrators. Data were collect through open-ended interviews. An analysis of these interviews reveal that members of a school community generally view the practice as a positive experience and a worthwhile investment. Differences between administrators and direct service providers (i.e., teachers, counselors) were identified. Administrators focused on operational or logistical elements of consultation and teachers and counselors spoke more to relational elements, such as personal characteristics of the consultant and the ability to develop a working relationship with the consultant. Further, school personnel with clinical training seemed to welcome the consultation as an opportunity for constructive feedback, but perhaps more importantly, the clinical supervision they would not otherwise receive.

No description available.

No description available.