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Title
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From synthesis to behavioral activity in streams : investigations of putative sea lamprey pheromone components
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Creator
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Brant, Cory Olaf
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Date
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2011
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Collection
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
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Description
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The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus L.) has become a model species in the study of bile acid production and release into the environment where these compounds function as intraspecific chemical signals. Throughout the later stages of their life history, sea lampreys have been shown to rely upon pheromone communication to mediate reproduction. Laboratory and stream behavioral bioassays have implicated 3-keto petromyzonol sulfate (3kPZS) as a lamprey mating pheromone, but the full function of...
Show moreThe sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus L.) has become a model species in the study of bile acid production and release into the environment where these compounds function as intraspecific chemical signals. Throughout the later stages of their life history, sea lampreys have been shown to rely upon pheromone communication to mediate reproduction. Laboratory and stream behavioral bioassays have implicated 3-keto petromyzonol sulfate (3kPZS) as a lamprey mating pheromone, but the full function of this bile alcohol derivative remains to be elucidated. Further, the biosynthesis, regulation, and release of 3kPZS and other putative components of the pheromone remain only partially characterized. In Chapter 1 of this thesis, I observed the behaviors of migratory females to the presence of 3kPZS in streams across a typical migratory season. In Chapter 2, the synthesis, transport, and release of several steroid-derived compounds in adult male sea lampreys were further examined using analytical chemistry and molecular biology-based approaches in adult males. The data presented here further characterize the male mating pheromone in sea lamprey, contribute to the understanding of pheromone communication in vertebrates, and provide implications for controlling the invasive species in the Laurentian Great Lakes.
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Title
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Evaluation of passive UHF radio frequency identification transponder performance using different packaging materials
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Creator
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Zhang, Yuanchenxi
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Date
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2018
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Collection
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
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Description
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Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology plays an important role in supply chains by providing possibilities of improved security, efficiency and visibility of item tracking and management. In order to achieve the expected functionality of RFID technology, it is critical to understand factors that influence RFID transponder performance.The objective of this research was to determine the effect of packaging materials on the performance of passive UHF RFID transponders in a simulated...
Show moreRadio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology plays an important role in supply chains by providing possibilities of improved security, efficiency and visibility of item tracking and management. In order to achieve the expected functionality of RFID technology, it is critical to understand factors that influence RFID transponder performance.The objective of this research was to determine the effect of packaging materials on the performance of passive UHF RFID transponders in a simulated manufacturing environment. Three general-purpose passive transponders were tested when they were attached to four packaging materials. Performance parameters of read range, which is the maximum distance the transponder can be detected by the interrogator, and orientation read rate, which is the percentage of orientations in which the transponder was read, out of the randomly chosen set of orientations evaluated based on rotation, tilt, or incline of the transponder within three-dimensional space, were quantified and analyzed. The results showed that packaging materials had a consistent effect on read range and orientation read rate across different antenna designs of passive dipole antenna transponders. Transponder antenna designs had a significant effect on read range and orientation read rate. Interrogator antenna polarizations had a significant effect on transponder read range but did not have a consistent effect on transponder orientation read rate.
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Title
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Investigation of racial and socioeconomic disparities in asthma hospitalizations in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan
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Creator
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Barnes, Lonnie
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Date
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2018
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Collection
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
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Description
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Racial health disparities are a consistent problem in the United States. Compared to whites, African Americans experience worse health outcomes both in terms of morbidity and mortality from various forms of chronic and infectious disease and continue to have lower life expectancy at birth. The causes of these disparities are not always immediately apparent, but previous literature on the topic indicates that they are rooted in larger structures of inequality which render disadvantaged...
Show moreRacial health disparities are a consistent problem in the United States. Compared to whites, African Americans experience worse health outcomes both in terms of morbidity and mortality from various forms of chronic and infectious disease and continue to have lower life expectancy at birth. The causes of these disparities are not always immediately apparent, but previous literature on the topic indicates that they are rooted in larger structures of inequality which render disadvantaged populations more exposed and susceptible to disease. This study investigates the racial and socioeconomic dimensions of morbidity due to asthma, an increasingly-common chronic condition of poorly-understood etiology in metropolitan Detroit, an urban area marked by high levels of racial segregation and economic inequality. Data on asthma hospitalizations from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project were used, along with socioeconomic indicators from the U.S. Census Bureau, to (a) ascertain the magnitude of racial disparities in asthma hospitalization, (b) identify risk factors for hospitalization, and (c) determine the extent to which these risk factors explain any racial disparities. Descriptive statistics indicate that even after controlling for ZIP code socioeconomic position, black hospitalization rates for asthma were considerably higher than white rates at all levels of the socioeconomic hierarchy. Results of logistic regression models indicate that factors such as type of insurance and having other conditions in addition to asthma affect the risk of hospitalization for the condition but are able to account for only a small portion of the increased odds of hospitalization in the study area’s African American population. The findings highlighted in this study are important, but also demonstrate the necessity for further research on this topic.
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Title
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Empowerment and critical consciousness : an investigation of women's beliefs about wife-beating in Kenya
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Creator
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Bur, Alaina Marie
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Date
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2018
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Collection
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
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Description
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This study investigates the role of culture in women’s empowerment in Kenya. Kenya serves as an ideal case study because it has strong ethnic and cultural diversity and a high proportion of men and women who justify the patriarchal practice of wife-beating. This investigation employs the women’s surveys from the 2014 round of the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in Kenya to perform logistic regressions of factors shaping a woman’s justification of wife-beating across five hypothetical...
Show moreThis study investigates the role of culture in women’s empowerment in Kenya. Kenya serves as an ideal case study because it has strong ethnic and cultural diversity and a high proportion of men and women who justify the patriarchal practice of wife-beating. This investigation employs the women’s surveys from the 2014 round of the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in Kenya to perform logistic regressions of factors shaping a woman’s justification of wife-beating across five hypothetical scenarios that can occur between a husband and wife. Results reveal that there are significant differences in women’s beliefs about wife-beating across ethnic groups, educational categories, and experience migrating. I draw on Swidler’s theory of culture to draw two conclusions from these findings. First, Kenyan ethnic groups are a source of culture that women draw on to form their repertoire of patterned action and belief during periods of settled life. Second, education and migration represent Kenyan women’s encounters with new gender ideology and experiences with resocialization during periods of unsettled life. These experiences offer opportunities for women to gain critical consciousness, or a reflexive vantage point from which they can assess whether their culture’s gender beliefs about wife-beating are, indeed, unjust.
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