With continual and worldwide human population growth, our impact on the natural environment expands and intensifies every day. We consume natural resources, burn fossil fuels, and release toxic compounds into the air, water, and earth. We build roads that fragment the landscape, construct new settlements, and develop agricultural lands in...
Corruption has important implications for the proper implementation and success of public policies. A vast literature in the social sciences has highlighted important national attributes that propagate corruption within the public sector. Despite these vast literatures, less attention has focused on individual characteristics, outside of more basic cost/benefit analysis, that...
Having excess weight carries a negative social stigma in the U.S. Previous research has shown that experiencing stigma has negative physical and mental health consequences. Few studies have examined how experiencing weight stigma might act as a barrier to engaging in healthy behaviors among older adults. The purpose of this...
Little, if any, quantifications have been made on the contribution of the vertebral column during jumping in quadrupedal mammals. Previous studies of jumpers have focused on the morphological and physiological specializations of the hindlimbs. In this study, such specialization was measured during the supramaximal jumps of the Pacific jumping mouse...
Cnidarians, such as corals and sea anemones serve as hosts to a variety of organisms including symbiotic dinoflagellates, bacteria, virus, and apicomplexans. As corals are vital to the health and productivity of the reef ecosystem it is important to understand how these organisms interact with each component of the holobiont....
In Islam, paying and receiving interest is prohibited based on the belief that money should not be a commodity that is “rented” out; instead, Islamic lending structures arrange loans on an equity basis. This work examines the historical origins of interest prohibition and explains how different Islamic financial products provide...
The purpose of this study is to ethnographically examine traditionally prescribed notions of sons and daughters in an Indian diasporic community located on Devon Avenue in Chicago. Informed by the association between "ideal" and "actual" family building patterns, this study situates reproductive behaviors and demographic outcomes in its local context...
Numerous studies have explored how alluvial channel size and morphology are adjusted to different sediment and flow conditions, yet we still know very little about how and to what degree the flow regime controls channel form and processes. We use the term ‘channel form’ to refer to the size and...
This dissertation uses manipulative experiments to explore amphibian-Bd infection dynamics. Although there has been almost two decades research since the discovery of Bd, many questions still remain regarding what conditions mediate chytridiomycosis virulence. My research shows how certain host and pathogen factors can influence disease virulence. Identifying how host and...
Ocean Acidification (OA) has emerged as a major threat to marine ecosystems, particularly regarding calcifying organisms. A growing body of literature describing laboratory investigations into pH stress indicates broadly deleterious effects for calcifiers, but responses vary greatly across taxa and can be influenced by variations in other environmental characteristics. Scaling...