Sexual harassment is associated with negative consequences for victims and bystanders. Because 9 in 10 victims do not report harassment, understanding bystanders' reactions to sexual harassment is important. Thus, my dissertation?s purpose was to advance the literature by analyzing bystanders' responses to sexual harassment by means of three studies. In Study 1, I examined bystanders' preferred punishment as a function of the harassment type and organizational culture. Participants were undergraduates (N=107) enrolled in physical activity classes at a Southwestern United States university (males n=53, 50%, females n=53, 50%; largely Caucasian n=79, 74.5%; age M=21.61, SD=2.70). The results indicate that harassment type affected bystanders' punishment preferences (B=.55, p<0.01). While the workplace culture did not directly affect punishment preferences (B=-.06, p=0.49), it moderated the relationship between harassment type and preferred punishment (R2=.03, B=.31, p&lt;0.05) such that quid-proquo harassment in proactive organizations resulted in the harshest punishment recommendations. In Study 2, I analyzed bystanders' reactions to different punishment levels delivered to the harasser. Participants were undergraduates (N=122) enrolled in activity classes at a Southwestern United States university (males n=68, 56.2%, females n=53, 43.8%; largely Caucasian n=94, 77.7%; age M=20.00, SD=2.00). The results revealed that congruity, or lack thereof, between their preferred punishment and the actual punishment affected their negative emotions (R2=0.04, B=-0.30, p&lt;0.01), organizational justice perceptions (R2=0.11, B=0.47, p&lt;0.01), and cultural consistency beliefs (R2=0.02, B=0.19, p&lt;0.05). In Study 3, I investigated bystanders? responses to different harassment levels as influenced by the organizational culture. Participants were undergraduates (N=183) enrolled in activity classes at a Southwestern United States university (males n=113, 61.7%, females n=66, 36.1%; largely Caucasian n=132, 72.1%; age M=19.84, SD=1.37). The results indicated that the harassment severity was positively associated with bystanders' intentions to intervene (B=.32, p&lt;0.001). The type of organizational culture did not affect willingness to act (B=-.07, p=0.32), possibly given the personal investment required by taking action. Alternatively, personal characteristics (i.e., political views) may supersede environmental influences. Collectively, these findings reiterate literature documenting harassment types? differential severity. Also, they outline additional advantages to promoting a proactive organizational culture. Finally, the influence of individual and environmental factors in decision making is highlighted.

It is important to develop and assess student learning outcomes in order to determine whether academic department goals and standards are being reached. One aspect of this process involves alignment of learning outcomes with stakeholder criteria (expectations, beliefs) for assessment. The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University has not previously developed a program assessment of student learning outcomes. However, a survey has been administered to undergraduate students enrolled in a mandatory class, Conservation and Management (WFSC 201). Among other questions, the survey asked students to provide information about their curriculum choice, agreement with value statements about wildlife and conservation issues, career interests, graduate school plans, and importance of issues related to wildlife and fisheries management and conservation. To evaluate alignment of student choice of curriculum with expectations and beliefs related to their choice of career, I tested the student responses to curriculum choice for relationships to responses to survey questions about career interests, gender, and graduate school plans for surveys administered in 2000 and 2008. For these same surveys, I also tested responses to value statements for relationships to responses for importance of issues, in addition to career interests, gender, and graduate school plans. Similar percentages (24%) of the total variation in curriculum choice and in agreement with value statements were explained: Career interests explained 18% of the variation related to curriculum choice and 8% of variation related to value statements. Year and gender combined explained only 2% of the variation in either dependent variable. Responses to important issues explained 11% of the variation in responses to value statements. Choice of curriculum was most strongly related to career interests and graduate school plans. Students who chose the teaching curriculum option were interested in careers in public school education and planned on attending graduate school. Students who chose curriculum options in aquaculture and fish ecology and management were interested in careers in aquaculture and as government fisheries biologists and conservation officers and planned on attending graduate school. Students who chose the curriculum options in wildlife ecology and management and other options were interested in a broad range of careers and were undecided about graduate school. Although importance of issues and career interests explained 19% of the variation in student agreement with value statements, this relationship was not statistically significant. Issues of greatest importance to females were endangered species, habitat destruction, water availability, loss of biodiversity, and water pollution. Females in 2000 tended to choose careers in public school education and as government wildlife biologists, and in 2008 chose careers in nature center education and as urban wildlife biologists. Issues of greatest importance to males were landowner rights to resources, such as high fences to enclose wildlife, access to rivers, water availability, and hunting of wildlife. Males in 2000 tended to choose careers as conservation officers, and in 2008 chose careers in ranch management, private consulting, and as government fish biologists and urban wildlife biologists. This data provides the Wildlife and Fisheries Department at Texas A&M University with information about its students and how they responded to curriculum options, career interests, value statements, and important issues.

Mesenchymal stem cells are more and more widely used in tissue engineering due to their pluripotency and no relative ethical problems. Traditional characterization techniques to detect mesenchymal stem cell states include flow cytometry, gene expressing profiling and immunohistochemistry. However, these methods can only provide transient and low level information from current RNA or protein levels about mesenchymal stem cells, which may cause problems when predicting the possible downstream lineages they will commit into. We have developed chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-based epigenetic technique to detect mesenchymal stem cell states. For the systems we tested, this epigenetic assessor successfully characterized cell state changes and gave similar results obtained from gene expression profiling or protein expression assay. This epigenetic technique can provide information about mesenchymal stem cells states from a more fundamental chromatin level, which is promising for predicting future lineages from current states.

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Evidence suggests that female victims of sexual abuse are revictimized more often than non-victimized females, placing them at risk for the negative consequences, including increased psychopathology, medical issues and interpersonal difficulties. Research is needed to protect childhood sexual abuse survivors from the risk of further sexual assault. The present study examines if victim status and perception of social costs inhibit heterosexual females’ perception of risk and behavioral response. Results indicate that victim status affects the perception of risk and that sexually abused women in a high social cost condition use less assertive behavioral responses. Implications of these findings for sexual assault prevention and interventions are discussed.

Coastal communities will be most affected by global climate change and are important to study to understand current and future ecological processes. The current model for global climate change predicts a change in rainfall, which will alter the salinity of coastal systems. Given the presence of eutrophication in many coastal waters, it is important to understand the effects that this increase in nutrients, coupled with changes in salinity, will have on these communities. This study was conducted to understand the effect of salinity increase on the growth and herbivory of the black mangrove, Avicennia germinans, in the presence of increased nutrients. Explicitly, the effects of changing salinity (high, medium, and low) were coupled with fertilizer additions of nitrogen, phosphorus, both, or no fertilizer. Nutrient enrichment differentially affected the growth and herbivory of the plants between salinity zones. The medium salinity zone consistently produced the greatest increases in growth and herbivory. Added nutrients did not have an effect on growth in the low salinity zone. However, added nitrogen increased some growth variables in the medium salinity zone and added phosphorus increased some growth variables in the high salinity zone. Phosphorus also increased herbivory. The results point to diverse processes acting along the salinity gradient. There appears to be differential N- and P-limitation along the gradient. Additionally, the growth differences indicate abiotic and biotic limitations across the salinity gradient, with debilitating salinity acting in the high salinity zone and competition acting in the low salinity zone.

In clinical trials of drug treatments for women’s sexual dysfunction, placebo responses have often been substantial. Little is known about the nature and time course of symptom reduction with placebo treatment. It is also unknown to what extent placebo responses might be associated with individual characteristics, such as demographic variables, that influence responsiveness to treatment. Finally, it is unknown how sexual behavior during placebo treatment changes and whether changes in sexual behavior account for variability in outcomes. In the present work I investigated potential between-trial, between-person, and within-person variables that might explain variability in response to placebo treatment of sexual dysfunction in women. Study 1 consisted of a systematic review of the clinical trial literature to estimate the magnitude and predictors of placebo response across previous trials. Study 2 was an analysis of a small sample of women who were randomized to receive placebo in a recent clinical trial. These preliminary studies provided evidence of a relatively large clinical response among women randomized to placebo in controlled clinical trials of sexual dysfunction treatments. In addition, I found evidence of a possible effect of psychosocial variables on placebo response. In Study 3, I further tested the nature and correlates of placebo response in a sample of 50 women with sexual arousal and desire problems. These data were drawn from a 12-week double-blind randomized controlled trial in which measurement of symptom severity took place at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks, allowing for longitudinal analysis. Change in sexual function during placebo treatment peaked at 4 weeks and remained relatively stable through post-treatment. Furthermore, change in sexual function was clinically meaningful in approximately one-third of the sample. Symptom improvement appeared to be in part a function of increased frequency of satisfying sexual encounters during treatment, although there remained additional variability in outcomes that could not be explained by the available data. The findings are discussed with reference to enhancing both clinical trial design and psychological therapies in the treatment of sexual dysfunction in women. / text

Student incivility has become a problem in nursing schools around the country. Researchers have noted that uncivil behavior that goes unaddressed may compromise the educational environment. Nursing faculty have differing standards about uncivil behavior; thus, students experience inconsistencies in approaches to incivility. The purpose of this mixed-methods explanatory study was to explore nursing faculty experiences with, understandings of, and responses to student incivility. The conceptual framework was Clark's continuum of incivility and the conceptual model for fostering civility in nursing education. Descriptive analysis of the level and frequency of uncivil behaviors of nursing faculty members (17 full-time and 15 part-time), as measured by the Incivility in Nursing Education-Revised survey, indicated that faculty most frequently experienced uncivil behaviors at the lower end of the continuum and rarely encountered those at the higher end. A purposeful sample of 12 faculty members (10 full-time and 2 part-time) participated in semistructured interviews, and data were open coded and analyzed thematically. Stress was identified as a contributing factor to student incivility, and faculty responses varied based on the learning environment. Nursing faculty expressed the need for more consistency in responding to student incivility. Based on the research findings, a 3-day professional development workshop on promoting civility in the academic environment was created. By learning practical ways to respond to, and possibly prevent, uncivil behavior in student nurses, workshop participants have the potential to positively affect the lives of future nurses, the health care personnel with whom they will work, and the patients for whom they will care.

Background: Allergic diseases are characterised by dysregulated immune responses. The first manifestation of the atopic phenotype is often food allergy, with symptoms like eczema. Food allergy in children is generally outgrown before 3 years of age, but a temporary food elimination diet is often advocated. The prevalence of allergic diseases has increased in affluent countries during the last decades, possibly as a consequence of a changed lifestyle leading to decreased microbial load. Aim: To investigate humoral, mucosal and cell-mediated immunity in association to allergy and allergy development in young children and relate this to environmental factors. Subjects: Two cohorts of children were investigated; 1) Children from countries with high (Sweden) and low (Estonia) prevalence of allergy that were followed prospectively from birth to 5 years of age. 2) Infants with eczema and suspected food allergy that were followed prospectively to 4 ½ years of age. Methods: Endotoxin levels were analysed in house dust samples. Antibodies were measured in serum and saliva samples with ELISA. Food allergen induced cytokine responses were analysed in mononuclear cells. Results: The microbial load, delineated as endotoxin levels, was higher in house dust from Estonia than Sweden and was, in Swedish children, inversely associated with sensitisation and clinical symptoms of allergy. The decreased microbial load in Sweden may have an impact on mucosal immune responses as different IgA antibody patterns were observed in Sweden and Estonian children with much lower secretory (S)IgA antibody levels and high proportion of non-SIgA, i.e. IgA antibodies lacking the secretory component, in the Swedish children. Moreover, low levels of SIgA were associated with clinical symptoms in sensitised children. High IgG4 antibody levels to food allergens during infancy were associated with faster tolerance development in food allergic children. Cytokine responses by mononuclear cells after allergen stimulation was upregulated with age in children with prolonged food allergy, but not in children who develop tolerance before 4 ½ years of age, possibly because of the prolonged elimination diet in the former group. Summary: Reduced microbial exposure in affluent countries may affect the mucosal immune responses during infancy, possibly resulting in an increased risk of developing allergic disease. High levels of IgG4 antibodies during infancy are associated with faster achievement of tolerance in food allergic children. Allergen elimination during infancy may result in a dysfunctional cytokine response.

The cardiovascular effects of whole body heat stress during exercise are well established. However the independent contribution of elevated skin temperature (Tsk) or core temperature (Tc) on these responses remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine how increases in Tsk and Tc alone and in combination, impact cardiovascular responses during moderate intensity exercise. To accomplish this goal, eight healthy, recreationally active males were immersed to the neck in a cold (14 - 17°C) or hot (40 - 42.5°C) water bath for 20 to 25 min to alter Tc immediately prior to exercise with either cool Tsk (i.e. fans) or warm Tsk (i.e. heaters). Conditions during exercise were cool skin and cool core (CC), warm skin and cool core (WC), cool skin and warm core (CW), and warm skin and warm core (WW), and were conducted in a randomized crossover design. When data was combined (n=16), warm core conditions (CW and WW) were associated with significantly higher average heart rate (HR) and lower stroke volume (SV) during exercise compared to cool core conditions (CC and WC); 168.1 ± 3.2 vs. 152.2 ± 4.0 beats/min and 139.2 ± 7.3 vs. 147.7 ± 9.4 mL/beat, respectively. The approximate 9 mL/beat decline in SV and 16 beat/min increase in HR in warm core conditions tended to increase cardiac output (Q), 23.2 ± 0.6 vs. 22.2 ± 0.7 L/min, P=0.078. Similarly, warm Tsk conditions (WC and WW) were associated with significantly higher average HR and lower SV during exercise compared to cool Tsk conditions (CC and CW); 165.2 ± 3.3 vs. 155.1 ± 3.4 beats/min and 140.8 ± 7.8 vs. 146.0 ± 8.7 mL/beat, respectively. Additionally, there was also a trend for Q to be elevated with warm skin (23.0 ± 0.6 vs. 22.4 ± 0.6, P=0.075). Although combined data indicated that warm Tsk conditions significantly lowered average SV by ~6 mL/beat, there was no reduction in SV during exercise by warm Tsk, when Tes was cool (i.e. <37.0°C), as evidenced by identical values for SV in CC and WC, 147.7 ± 9.8 vs. 147.7 ± 9.0 mL/beat, respectively. In contrast, SV was significantly lower in WW compared with CW, 133.9 ± 7.0 vs. 144.4 ± 7.8 mL/beat, respectively. Therefore, the major reduction in SV by warm Tsk occurred during WW, when Tes was elevated (i.e. >38.0°C). Analyzing data independently for precooling and preheating conditions revealed that warm Tsk was associated with greater HR drift from 5 to 20 min of exercise, compared to cool Tsk, when esophageal temperature (Tes) was both cool or warm (23.9 ± 2.2 vs. 17.5 ± 2.3 and 12.3 ± 1.3 vs. 4.6 ± 1.7 beats/min, respectively). These observations demonstrate that both Tes and Tsk can directly influence cardiovascular responses during exercise, as indicated by elevations in HR during exercise with warm Tsk, with both warm and cool Tes. However SV is not compromised by warm Tsk if Tes is below 37.5°C. Furthermore, when both Tes and Tsk are elevated simultaneously, cardiovascular strain (i.e. increased HR and reduced SV) is much greater than when either is elevated alone. This is demonstrated by the finding that average HR was 175.8 ± 3.2 beats/min in WW, compared to 149.8 ± 4.0, 154.7 ± 4.1, and 160.3 ± 3.5 beats/min, in CC, WC, and CW, respectively, and the fact that SV was lowest during exercise in WW. In conclusion, individuals exercising in the heat should take measures to keep skin cool, especially when Tes is 39°C or greater to attenuate the cardiovascular strain that occurs with warm Tsk, when Tes is elevated. / text