Northern Illinois University

About: Northern Illinois University is a education organization based out in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Large Hadron Collider & Population. The organization has 8818 authors who have published 20008 publications receiving 632341 citations. The organization is also known as: NIU.

A Spanish language version of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile.

Abstract: The development and initial psychometric evaluation of a Spanish language version of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP) is described. The 48-item instrument was translated into Spanish and found to be culturally relevant and reliable in a pilot study. The Spanish version was then administered to a diverse but predominantly Mexican-American group of 485 Hispanics residing in metropolitan and surrounding rural areas. In a principal components factor analysis, all but one item loaded significantly on six factors similar to those isolated previously during psychometric assessment of the English language version. Those six dimensions comprise the HPLP subscales of self-actualization, health responsibility, exercise, nutrition, interpersonal support, and stress management. The six factors explained 45.9% of the variance in the measure. Second-order factor analysis yielded a single factor, interpreted as health-promoting lifestyle. The alpha reliability coefficient for the total scale was .93 and 2-week test-retest reliability was .86; alpha coefficients for the subscales ranged from .70 to .87.

Color-pattern variation in lake erie water snakes: the role of gene flow.

Abstract: In an effort to clarify the evolutionary processes influencing color-pattern variation in Lake Erie island water snake (Nerodia sipedon) populations, rates of gene flow among island and mainland populations were estimated from patterns of allozymic variation detected using electrophoresis. Rates of gene flow were high with Nm, the number of migrants per generation, averaging 25.5 among island sites, 9.2 between the Ontario mainland and the islands, and 3.6 between the Ohio mainland and the islands. Based on estimates of current population size from mark-recapture work and of past population size extrapolated from the extent of shoreline habitat, values of m between island and mainland populations ranged from 0.0008-0.01. Synthesis of estimates of the rate of gene flow with information on inheritance of color pattern, the strength of natural selection, and population history supports the hypothesis that color-pattern variation in island populations results from a balance between gene flow and natural selection. However, depending on the mode of inheritance of color pattern, stochastic processes such as drift may have been important in the initial stages of differentiation between island and mainland populations.

Trophic Relationships among Small Mammals in a Chilean Semiarid Thorn Scrub Community

Abstract: The food habits of seven species of small mammals were analyzed for a 15-month period during a live-trapping and snap-trapping study in a semiarid thorn scrub community in north-central Chile. The species included four cricetids ( Akodon olivaceas, A. longipilis, Phyllotis darwini , and Oryzomys longicaudatus ), two caviomorphs ( Octodon degus and Abrocoma bennetti ), and a didelphid ( Marmosa elegans ). The community was characterized by a semiarid mediterranean climate with low winter precipitation and frequent fog formation. Dominant physical features included high cover of spiny evergreen and drought-deciduous shrubs, low ground cover of herbaceous plants, and open sandy areas. Year-round food habit trends indicated three functional trophic guilds and one omnivorous species. A. longipilis and M. elegans were insectivorous, O. degus and A. bennetti were herbivorous, P. darwini and O. longicaudatus were granivorous, and A. olivaceus was omnivorous. This pattern of trophic specialization agrees generally with other studies of various species in the Chilean region, and suggests contrasts with patterns in the mediterranean and desert communities of North America and Argentina.

Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals

Abstract: C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, L. L. Jacobs (eds.). 1998. Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 691 pp. ISBN 0-521-35519-2, price (hardback), $260.00. This book has undertaken a huge task, that of bringing order to the information available for the diverse assemblage of terrestrial mammals that appeared, diversified, and sometimes became extinct over the last 65 million years. The editors' goal did not stop there, however. This book goes further, providing similar kinds of information for each taxon in a similar format. Having chapters contributed by researchers specializing in each group ensures thoroughness of coverage, up-to-date citation of the pertinent primary literature, and the most contemporary interpretations of evolutionary patterns among the taxa. The introductory chapters of Part I serve well to set the stage of the evolution of Tertiary mammals. It is critical in an attempt to understand the biology of a species, and even more so for a lineage, whether living or extinct, to know at least basic data about conditions that drove their selection. Each of the factors covered in Chapter 1, chronologic, climatic, and paleogeographic, adds depth to biologic interpretations. With the addition of Chapter 2, discussing the vegetation of the North American Tertiary, the context essential to explaining why Tertiary mammals evolved in directions revealed by the fossil record is presented. Chapter 3 demonstrates how these different kinds of information can be used to interpret North American faunal assemblages. Even more importantly, this chapter places animals and their ecologies in a climatic framework, simplifying the understanding of how natural selection pressures are correlated with those of climatic change. Although the chapters on each …