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Wolbachia, an intracellular endosymbiont found in up to 60% of arthropods, has been celebrated for its highly varied host-phenotype interactions. These effects are diverse, ranging from reproductive manipulations to obligate mutualisms and facultative symbiosis. These facultative effects include increased resistance to, and reduction in the ability to vector, a number of RNA viruses in insects. Artificial transinfection to mediate human vector-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and Zika virus in Aedes mosquitoes has had considerable success globally. However, using Wolbachia to mediate zoonotic disease directly in threatened species has not been examined. The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) has shown significant global population declines across the US and Europe, suffering from a diverse range of pathogens, including viral RNA and parasite vector networks. Wolbachia infection in honey bees has only been detected once and its effects have not been investigated. Here, I present the first attempted transinfection of Wolbachia in the Western honey bee using established transinfection protocols. The natural, but rarely found, Wolbachia infection reported in A. mellifera was examined against a robust phylogeny of all existing Wolbachia supergroups, a feat that has not been updated in the literature since 2015. I discovered Wolbachia infection in Ancistrocerus gazella, the European tube wasp, where it has never been observed. I isolated the natural Wolbachia strain hosted by Drosophila melanogaster (wMel ) and more than 1200 individuals from a range of honey bee life stages (from eggs to adults) were used as potential Wolbachia recipients using sound microinjection protocols. Additionally, I present a novel transinfection avenue utilizing artificial insemination and honey bee breeding using Wolbachia-inoculated drone semen. When no individuals were successfully infected with Wolbachia in F0 or F1, I investigated the expression of several antimicrobial peptides to char

Kernicterus is a serious but easily preventable disease in newborns that is not well-known even by some health care professionals. This study evaluated a parent guide and poster on kernicterus awareness and prevention generated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Extended Parallel Processing Model was used as a framework for creating the interview protocol and analyzing the results.

The workplace poses unique challenges for liars, especially for deception between supervisors and subordinates. To that end, the current study examined deception in the workplace between supervisors and subordinates to explore perceptions of deception and the relationship between power and deception. Participants were recruited from organizations and universities and reported their perceptions of power in their manager-subordinate relationships, perceptions of deception, and perceptions of the risk involved with a recent lie they told to a supervisor or subordinate. Results indicated that the perceived power difference between supervisors and subordinates was substantial, power impacted perceptions of deception in the workplace and how deceptive messages were crafted, and very few of the reported lies were detected. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.