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Understanding reproductive isolation and divergence is the focus of speciation research. Recent evidence suggested that some Dendroctonus ponderosae populations produced hybrids with reproductive incompatibilities, a reproductive boundary undetected by phylogeographic analyses using molecular markers. Additionally, the unique bifurcated distribution of D. ponderosae and the proposed isolation-by-distance gene flow pattern around the Great Basin Desert provided a unique opportunity to investigate the evolution of postmating (postyzygotic) isolation while also understanding phenotypic divergence along latitudinal (climatic) gradients. First, I characterized the strength, biological pattern, and geographic pattern of postzygotic isolation in D. ponderosae by crossing increasingly divergent populations in a common garden environment. There was little evidence of hybrid inviability in these crosses, yet geographically distant crosses produced sterile males, consistent with expectations under Haldane's rule. Hybrid male sterility appeared at a threshold among increasingly divergent populations, was bidirectional (reciprocal crosses were affected), and less geographically distant crosses did not show significant gender-specific decreases in fitness. Second, a separate investigation of two critical phenotypic traits (body size and development time) was conducted on intrapopulation F2 generation offspring from a common garden experiment. Genetic differences contributing to phenotypic variance were interpreted within the context of the previously described reproductive incompatibilities, gene flow patterns, and latitudinal gradients. Genetic differences in development time were striking between faster developing and more synchronized northern populations and slower developing, less synchronized southern populations. Differences in development time were not detected between populations at similar latitudes. Body size, although more variable than developmental time, generally conformed to expectations, with northern populations being smaller than southern populations. Average adult size was found to be quite different between many populations and did vary between populations at similar latitudes, yet relative sexual size dimorphism was rather consistent. There was no evidence of correspondence between phenotypic traits (body size and development time) and either reproductive boundaries or gene flow patterns. The results suggest that latitudinally imposed climatic differences are likely driving phenotypic divergence between populations.

In this thesis I examine the Riksbank’s monetary policy for five periods from 1995-2023 to see if the Riksbank follows the Taylor rule. I do so by conducting a diagram of the actual policy rate and the suggested policy rate from the Taylor rule. I also conduct reaction functions using the inflation gap and the output gap and the dynamic Taylor rule’s reaction function. The results gives that the reaction function based on Taylors original rule gave positive and overall statistically significant outcomes for the first periods, while the last two periods had negative and statistically insignificant outcome. The dynamic Taylor rule gave no significant results and evidence for interest smoothing cannot really be concluded. The graphical interpretation shows a similar result as the reaction function. The conclusion is that the Riksbank can be said to have followed the Taylor rule for the first two periods (1995-2005 and 2005-2010), but not for the last three periods (2010-2015, 2015-2020 and 2020-2023).

Rule-following has been a controversial issue in professional philosophical literature since Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. Many authors have developed accounts of rule-following along different lines, including those that naturalistically reduce rule-following to non-normative phenomena and those that take rule-following to be an irreducible aspect of cognition and agency. Hannah Ginsborg, a prominent contributor to rule-following literature, has developed a partially reductive account of rule-following, combining features of both reductionist and nonreductionist accounts. But naturalizing or internalistic theories of rule-following, or even Ginsborg's partial reduction of rule-following, ignore important facets of what it is to follow a rule, particularly its social aspect. In this thesis I reject Ginsborg's partial reductionism, holding that her hybrid theory does not escape the particular problems of naturalistic reductionism or nonreductionism about rule-following. I argue instead that certain social concepts are necessary for a satisfactory theory of rule-following. The first concept is how an individual is "enculturated" into her various social and cultural networks. The second is one's "normative identity," the accumulated concepts and behaviors one has as part of a social and cultural network. I develop these notions with inspiration from Wittgenstein and other social contributors to rule-following literature.

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Chapter one of my thesis has been published in the May 2008 issue of the journal Evolution under the title “A TALE OF TWO CONTINENTS: BAKER’S RULE AND THE MAINTENANCE OF SELF-INCOMPATIBILITY IN LYCIUM (SOLANACEAE).” This chapter was co-authored by Dr. Jill S. Miller and Dr. Rachel Levin.

No description available.

Family history research on the web is increasing in popularity, and many competing genealogical websites host large amounts of data-rich, unstructured, primary genealogical records. It is labor-intensive, however, even after making these records machine-readable, for humans to make these records easily searchable. What we need are computer tools that can automatically produce indices and databases from these genealogical records and can automatically identify individuals and events, determine relationships, and put families together. We propose here a possible solution—specialized ontologies, built specifically for extracting information from primary genealogical records, with expert logic and rules to infer genealogical facts and assemble relationship links between persons with respect to the genealogical events in their lives. The deliverables of this solution are extraction ontologies that can extract from parish or town records, annotated versions of original documents, data files of individuals and events, and rules to infer family relationships from stored data. The solution also provides for the ability to query over the rules and data files and to obtain query-result justification linking back to primary genealogical records. An evaluation of the prototype solution shows that the extraction has excellent recall and precision results and that inferred facts are correct.

In the hospitality industry, the role of the frontline employee is integral. These employees are the face of the organization and have a strong role in shaping and forming the opinions of consumers by way of their product and service delivery. Therefore, the decisions an employee makes during the product or service delivery is critical in maintaining the relationship with the customer. Employees may be faced with opportunities to better service a customer at the cost of breaking an organizational rule or procedure. When an employee is faced with this dilemma and decides to break the rule on the behalf of the customer knowing the risks involved, this is called prosocial rule breaking. One distinct difference between this concept and general rule breaking is that this is performed as a nonselfish gesture; the employee does not receive any personal benefit. To examine this further, this study investigated the overall propensity to participate in prosocial rule breaking and the impact of the Big Five personality dimensions on prosocial rule breaking. To gain a better understanding of these constructs, a review of literature related to ethical decision making, prosocial behavior, and the five factor theory of personality was conducted. To investigate the research objectives, a purposive sample of frontline employees from a nationally branded restaurant chain completed a four part self-administered questionnaire by answering questions on the five factor personality dimensions through the Big Five Inventory (BFI), a restaurant based scenario followed by Morrison's (2006) prosocial rule breaking scale, a section on demographic information, and an open ended section for qualitative comments. Overall, three-hundred and five (305) usable questionnaires were completed and interpreted. The results demonstrated that this sample of restaurant employees revealed a moderate propensity for prosocial rule breaking. Moreover, the results revealed that the Agreeableness dimension is the most common personality dimension for this group of restaurant employees, but the Conscientiousness domain was the best predictor of one's propensity not to participate in prosocial rule breaking. The implications for managers from this study indicate a need for managers to recognize and encourage prosocial behaviors from their employees. They also need to understand which personality domains contribute to prosocial behavior, which can ultimately have implications for hiring, selection, and training.

Head impacts can result in various levels of brain trauma, from mild to severe, and often result in long lasting effects on human brain function (McAllister & McCrea, 2017; Sollmann et al., 2018). Over the past two decades alone the National Hockey League (NHL) has made several rule changes to the game (Marek, 2015; National Hockey League Official Rules 2010–11, 2010; National Hockey League Official Rules 2011–12, 2011; National Hockey League Official Rules 2014-15, 2014). Frequency and magnitude are needed to examine brain trauma as examining brain trauma solely on magnitude does not capture a full brain trauma profile or the long-term consequences of repetitive brain strain; higher frequencies at lower magnitudes of strain may result in long-term neurologic complications. The purpose of this study was to compare frequency of head impacts and frequency-magnitude of brain strain between the 2003-04 and 2016-17 seasons of North American professional ice hockey. Videos of head impact events from twenty 2003-04 and twenty 2016-17 regular season NHL games were analyzed. Head impact conditions were characterized by events type, inbound velocity, location and elevation, and reconstructed using physical and finite element model methods. Overall frequency of head impacts was similar between the two seasons. Head-to-glass had the highest frequency for event type in both seasons. Mann-Whitney U tests found there was a significant decrease in glove-to-head impact events in the 2016-17 season compared to the 2003-04 (U=111, p=0.009). There was also a significant decrease in the frequency of fight events in 2003-04 during regulation time when compared to 2016-17 (U=86, p<0.001). A significant increase in the frequency of head impacts within the low MPS level was found in the 2016-17 season compared to 2003-04 (U=130, p=0.050). Given the popularity of ice hockey nationally, continentally, and globally, the results of this study provide a better understanding of frequency of head impacts and magnitude of brain strain, allowing stakeholders to make informed decisions involving repetitive brain strain during the game and give insight in the effectiveness of rules involving head contact. Future studies should consider including the effect of rule changes on overtime and pre- and post-season game play compared to in-season games.