Matching Items (96)
Description
How are perceptions of morality and disgust regarding meat consumption related to each other? Which factor is more salient in determining one's willingness to eat the meat of a specific animal? How do these answers vary across religious groups? This study investigates the ways that concepts like morality and disgust are related to food preferences and hopes to shed light on the mechanisms that enforce culturally sanctioned food taboos. The study compares 4 groups of people in the U.S.: Christians (n = 39), Hindus (n = 29), Jews (n = 23), and non-religious people (n = 63). A total of 154 participants were given surveys in which they rated their feelings about eating various animals. Data from Christian and non-religious groups exhibited similar patterns such as a high likelihood of eating a given animal when starving, while results from Jews and Hindus were consistent with their religion's respective food taboos. Despite these differences, morality and disgust are strongly correlated with one another in almost all instances. Moreover, morality and disgust are almost equally important considerations when determining willingness to eat when starving.
ContributorsParekh, Shaili Rajul (Author) / Hruschka, Daniel (Thesis director) / Jacobs, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Collective decision making in social organism societies involves a large network of communication systems. Studying the processes behind the transmission of information allows for greater understanding of the decision making capabilities of a group. For Temnothorax rugatulus colonies, information is commonly spread in the form of tandem running, a linear recruitment pattern where a leading ant uses a short-ranged pheromone to direct a following ant to a target location (in tandem).The observed phenomenon of reverse tandem running (RTR), where a follower is lead from a target back to the home nest, has not been as extensively studied as forward tandem running and transportation recruitment activities. This study seeks to explain a potential reason for the presence of the RTR behavior; more specifically, the study explores the idea that reverse tandem run followers are being shown a specific route to the home nest by a highly experienced and efficient leading ant. Ten colonies had migrations induced experimentally in order to generate some reverse tandem running activity. Once an RTR has been observed, the follower and leader were studied for behavior and their pathways were analyzed. It was seen that while RTR paths were quite efficient (1.4x a straight line distance), followers did not experience a statistically significant improvement in their pathways between the home and target nests (based on total distance traveled) when compared to similar non-RTR ants. Further, RTR leading ants were no more efficient than other non-RTR ants. It was observed that some followers began recruiting after completion of an RTR, but the number than changed their behavior was not significant. Thus, the results of this experiment cannot conclusively show that RTR followers are utilizing reverse tandem runs to improve their routes between the home and target nests.
ContributorsColling, Blake David (Author) / Pratt, Stephen (Thesis director) / Liebig, Juergen (Committee member) / Sasaki, Takao (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Communication amongst eusocial insect is key to their success. Ants rely on signaling to mediate many different functions within a colony such as policing and nest mate recognition. Camponotus floridanus uses chemosensory signaling in the form of cuticular hydrocarbons to regulate these functions. Each cuticular hydrocarbon profile contains numerous hydrocarbons, however it is yet to be seen if Camponotus floridanus can discriminate between linear hydrocarbons of similar length. Individual specimens were conditioned in three different ways: 5 conditioning with high concentration of sugar water (1;1 ratio), 1 conditioning with high concentration of sugar water, and 5 conditioning with low concentration of sugar water (1;4). Two linear hydrocarbons were use, C23 and C24, with C23 always being the conditioned stimulus. Specimens who were conditioned 5 times with high concentration of sugar water were the only group to show a significant response to the conditioned stimulus with a p-value of .008 and exhibited discrimination behavior 46% of the time. When compared 5 conditioning with high concentration to the other two testing conditioning groups, 1 conditioning with high concentration produced an insignificant p-value of .13 was obtained whereas when comparing it with 5 conditioning low concentration of sugar a significant p-value of .0132 was obtained. This indiciates that Camponotus floridanus are capable of discrimination however must be conditioned with high concentration of sugar water, while number of conditioning is insignificant.
ContributorsDamari, Ben Aviv (Author) / Liebig, Juergen (Thesis director) / Ghaninia, Majid (Committee member) / Pratt, Stephen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) play a crucial role in social insect recognition systems. In this study we investigated mate choice in the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. In Phoenix, this species has two lineages, J1 and J2, which look identical, but are genetically isolated. In the genetic caste determination (GCD) system workers and queens are determined by their genotype (i.e., workers develop from interlineage crosses, queens from intralineage crosses). As such, J1 and J2 lineages are dependent on each other in order for colonies to produce both workers and reproductive queens. Given their genetic isolation and interdependence, we hypothesized that the CHCs of alate males and queens are affected by lineage, and that differences in the CHC profile are used for mate recognition. We tested these hypotheses by analyzing the lineage distributions of actively mating pairs (n=65), and compared them with the overall distribution of male and female sexuals (n=180). We additionally analyzed the five most abundant CHC compounds for 20 of the actively mating P. barbatus alate male and queen pairs to determine how variable the two lineages are between each sex. We found that mating pair distributions did not significantly differ from those expected under a random mating system (�2= 1.4349, P= 0.6973), however, CHC profiles did differ between J1 and J2 lineages and sexes for the five most abundant CHC compounds. Our results show that random mating is taking place in this population, however given the differences observed in CHC profiles, mate recognition could be taking place.
ContributorsTula Del Moral Testai, Pedro Rafael (Co-author) / Cash, Elizabeth (Co-author) / Gadau, Juergen (Thesis director) / Liebig, Juergen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The United States is experiencing an increase in the prevalence and influence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patient healthcare, reflecting the increasingly positive public and professional attitudes on the use of CAM therapies. Despite the growing presence of CAM in U.S. healthcare, there are still many barriers to integration. This study aims to reveal the attitudes of conventional, integrative and CAM practitioners concerning the major challenges of CAM's integration, explore their proposed solutions, and reveal any discrepancies in these attitudes among different types of practitioners. Twenty-eight practitioners were interviewed on the challenges in the five facets of CAM's integration: integration into hospitals, integration into medical schools, insurance coverage for CAM, licensing & regulation of CAM practitioners, and clinical research in CAM. The overall positive attitudes on the benefits of CAM's integration support previous research on the subject; however, the conventional practitioners were unable to extend these benefits to real-world application, and they were unaware of many of the challenges facing CAM's integration. The CAM practitioners attributed many of the problems facing integration to the inability of CAM's philosophy to comply with the current ideology of medical academia, health insurance model, and laws that govern the licensing and regulation of medical practitioners. The CAM and integrative practitioners perceived there to be a large resistance from conventional practitioners, specifically concerning the integration of CAM into education, providing insurance coverage for CAM, and the licensing and regulation of CAM practitioners. They attributed this to a perceived lack of research on safe and effective treatments in CAM. The conventional practitioner responses reflected this weariness of treatment effectiveness in their responses. However, the CAM and integrative practitioners believed these claims to be largely inaccurate, and constructed by the influence and manipulation of large-scale medical corporations and organizations. The participants believed that more evidence-based research in CAM, and increased public awareness in CAM therapies will force conventional practitioners to increase their knowledge in CAM, helping to alleviate their fears and skepticism of CAM therapies. By easing these concerns, dialogue can occur among practitioners of different modalities that will help to ensure a smooth integration of CAM and will raise the quality of patient healthcare by providing safe and effective resources for alternate forms of treatment.
ContributorsJohnston, Shantele Hanna Lee (Author) / Hruschka, Daniel (Thesis director) / Hurlbut, Ben (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Evolutionary theory predicts that animal behavior is generally governed by decision rules (heuristics) which adhere to ecological rationality: the tendency to make decisions that maximize fitness in most situations the animal encounters. However, the particular heuristics used by ant colonies of the genus Temnothorax and their propensity towards ecological rationality are up for debate. These ants are adept at choosing a nest site, making a collective decision based on complex interactions between the many individual choices made by workers. Colonies will migrate between nests either upon the destruction of their current home or the discovery of a sufficiently superior nest. This study offers a descriptive analysis of the heuristics potentially used in nest-site decision-making. Colonies were offered a choice of nests characterized by the Ebbinghaus Illusion: a perceptual illusion which effectively causes the viewer to perceive a circle as larger when it is surrounded by small circles than when that same circle is surrounded by large circles. Colonies were separated into two conditions: in one, they were given the option to move to a high-quality nest surrounded by poor-quality nests, and in the other they were given the option to move to a high-quality nest surrounded by medium-quality nests. The colonies in the poor condition were found to be more likely to move to the good nest than were colonies in the medium condition at a statistically significant level. That is, they responded to the Ebbinghaus Effect in the way that is normally expected. This result was discussed in terms of its implications for the ecological rationality of the nest-site choice behavior of these ants.
ContributorsTalken, Lucas Warren (Author) / Pratt, Stephen (Thesis director) / Sasaki, Takao (Committee member) / Liebig, Juergen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Fat-stigma has become a popular topic of research in recent years as obesity and Western ideals have made their way around the globe. Previous studies have found that the internalization and expression of body norms can vary dramatically depending on location, gender, and many other cultural factors. Differing levels of body satisfaction have been linked to the internalization of these norms, and the development of low body esteem can result in many physical and emotional problems. Although there is an abundance of research on the topic of fat-stigma, few studies have investigated the related, but seemingly independent, topic of the ideal thin body. Furthermore, limited research has looked directly at body size stereotypes in Guatemala, and those that have, focused solely on Guatemala City. Furthermore, no previous cross-cultural analyses were found comparing body norms among US and rural Guatemalan adolescents. By surveying 9-10 year old students in Acatenango, Guatemala and Phoenix, Arizona, this study compared the preferences as well as stereotypes for average, thin, and fat body sizes in these two contexts. The results of this study illustrate a contrast between a fat-negative and a thin-negative culture, and highlight the complexity of the emergence of body norms around the world. We find that, in contrast to previous studies, neither the western ideal thin body nor obesity stereotypes have been internalized in Acatenango. Furthermore, negative evaluations of fat bodies and positive evaluations of thin bodies seem to be made independently of each other. Americans had a much higher prejudice against fat children and were more likely to be thin-positive (OR=1.997), while Guatemalans were more likely to be thin-negative. On average, the American students were much more polarized in their judgments on different body sizes, and experienced greater levels of body dissatisfaction. Finally, American students favored an ideal figure over one size smaller than Guatemalan students. Results suggest that there are still rural communities that have not been entirely affected by the spread of western body norms.
ContributorsCole, Dawn Michelle (Author) / Maupin, Jonathan (Thesis director) / Hruschka, Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2013-12
Description
Africa is the area of the largest economic water scarcity on earth, with multiple countries, political systems, and geographies involved. Additionally, water scarcity affects more countries in sub-Saharan African than anywhere else on earth, with consequences like waterborne diseases, loss of agricultural development, educational setbacks, and security threats. This thesis synthesizes data on the diverse geographies and politics involved in building a sustainable African water system. It presents historical and present technologies, costs, and problems implementing sustainable potable water solutions, and suggests regional differences and individualized solutions, pointing out advantages and disadvantages of damming, boreholes, open wells, open-source water, and sewer systems. It goes on to discuss grant programs for water and wastewater solutions and technologies. Finally it addresses two divergent, yet equally important data models for African water planning, combining their contributions in order to gain insight into the problem that neither alone can. The research overlaps aquifer and demographic data to see where water should be a priority in Africa. The author finds that hydrology as well as demographic data, when combined, point to the greatest water need in the Sahel. However, many growing cities are situated in areas with high aquifer levels making borehole technology some of the most economical as well as sustainable water sourcing. Recommendations include cultural humility, attention to political and environmental consequences of solutions, and cost-effective ways of addressing the lack of access to clean drinking water in Africa.
ContributorsBarbur, Denisa Teodora (Author) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis director) / Hruschka, Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The purpose of this study was to investigate how the human-animal relationship affects one's willingness to seek veterinary care for a pet. It is important to understand this topic because past research has shown that companion animals play a very large role in the lives of many people. However, there has been a decline in the frequency of veterinary visits despite an increase in the number of pets. The variables of the human-animal relationship that were tested were one's views on the intelligence of a pet and its ability to feel emotions, and the closeness one feels to a pet. Demographic factors were also considered. The dependent variable of one's willingness to seek veterinary care was measured by the amount one would spend on veterinary treatment for a healthy pet, the amount one would spend on an older pet, and the responsibility one feels for the health and well-being of one's pet. The study revealed that the closeness one feels to a pet and one's views on a pet's ability to feel emotion both have a positive correlation with one's willingness to seek veterinary care for a pet. However, there was no correlation between one's views on the intelligence of a pet and one's willingness to seek veterinary care, and there was only a very slight correlation between income and one's willingness to seek veterinary care. Understanding these factors could be important in ensuring that companion animals receive the necessary care to promote their health and well-being.
ContributorsMagnussen, Hailey Eve (Author) / Hruschka, Daniel (Thesis director) / Risley-Curtiss, Christina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Curanderos are Hispanic traditional healers who attend to their clients through spiritual, natural, and physical techniques. Recent studies have shown that a subset of the Hispanic population refer to these healers for HIV and STD treatment and believe they are important in a collaborative targeted HIV intervention. Thus, curanderos were interviewed and the lay population of Phoenix was sampled in order to get a better idea of the utility of these healers in an HIV prevention effort targeted at the Hispanic community. Due to the limitations of this study there was not sufficient enough data to make significant conclusions; however the interviews with the curanderos were surprising in the they had significant roles as healers in the Phoenix area, patients have referred to them for HIV and STD treatment, and a couple of the healers have integrated western medical knowledge into their practice.
ContributorsMartinez, Justin Anthony (Author) / Maupin, Jonathan (Thesis director) / Hruschka, Daniel (Committee member) / Aguilera, Miguel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05