As the pandemic hit back in 2019, an influx of pet adoptions occurred as more people were spending time home alone and saw the need for a companion. While SARS-CoV-2 is still circulating the globe, and mutating into different strains, people are continuing to work from home close to their animals. Evidence has shown that animals like dogs, cats, minks, and ferrets can contract the disease from their human counterparts, however, it is unclear if humans can contract the disease back from their animal companions [6]. While we have seen these Coronavirus outbreaks continually occur in the past several decades, we must be properly knowledgeable on the transmission capabilities of the virus to combat another wave of a SARS outbreak for future decades to come. Earlier coronavirus’ present in veterinary medicine has been noted to progress into more fatal and aggressive diseases when transmitted from one species to another [7], and therefore it is just as important that we understand the transmission possibilities of the virus in animals as we do ourselves. To determine if our pets can transmit the virus to us humans, a study is proposed where canines are purposefully inoculated with a selected SARS-Cov-2 virus and exposed to human volunteers to determine if the virus can spill back from canines to humans. To determine which virus strain will be utilized for the study, data regarding potential strain hosts will be collected from directly ill volunteers who also own canines prior to inoculation.

This thesis’s goal was to design a theoretical research study based on a literature review on improving the aquaculture of European eels. Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic species such as fish. The European eel is a critically endangered catadromous fish species that faces a continuous decline in wild populations over the years due to pollution, climate change, industrial development, and overfishing. The replenishing of the fishery stock of European eels relies heavily on the wild population since there is no sustainable way of creating a generational captive population. The reason for this is that the lifecycle and environmental triggers of freshwater eels are relatively unknown due to their long lifespan, migratory lifestyle, metamorphoses, and sex differentiation timing. The primary focus of the design was to use different hormonal regiments and compared their effects on hatch rate, clutch size, survival rate, and lifespan of the juvenile eels. From this, it was concluded that the mother eel’s lipid storage impacts the quality of yolk sacs which in turn impacts the survival of leptocephali (eel larvae). The primary focus on eel population recovery should be habitat restoration and research on the leptocephalus stage since they both have the most evidence of success in eel population recovery.

Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. The disease and treatment cause many unfavorable symptoms such as fatigue, pain, and psychological stress. Research suggests that stress may negatively impact survival and recurrence outcomes of breast cancer patients. Cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM) programs have been found to improve these outcomes. In this thesis, I propose using virtual reality as a tool for CBSM to improve symptoms and outcomes for non-metastatic breast cancer patients.

Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. The disease and treatment cause many unfavorable symptoms such as fatigue, pain, and psychological stress. Research suggests that stress may negatively impact survival and recurrence outcomes of breast cancer patients. Cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM) programs have been found to improve these outcomes. In this thesis, I propose using virtual reality as a tool for CBSM to improve symptoms and outcomes for non-metastatic breast cancer patients.