Digital Commons Network^™

Virus Discovery In All Three Major Lineages Of Terrestrial Arthropods Highlights The Diversity Of Single-Stranded Dna Viruses Associated With Invertebrates, Karyna Rosario, Kaitlin Mettel, Bayleigh Benner, Ryan Johnson, Catherine Scott, Sohath Yusseff-Vanegas, Christopher Baker, Deby Cassill, Caroline Storer, Arvind Varsani, Mya Breitbart

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Viruses encoding a replication-associated protein (Rep) within a covalently closed, single-stranded (ss)DNA genome are among the smallest viruses known to infect eukaryotic organisms, including economically valuable agricultural crops and livestock. Although circular Rep-encoding ssDNA (CRESS DNA) viruses are a widespread group for which our knowledge is rapidly expanding, biased sampling toward vertebrates and land plants has limited our understanding of their diversity and evolution. Here, we screened terrestrial arthropods for CRESS DNA viruses and report the identification of 44 viral genomes and replicons associated with specimens representing all three major terrestrial arthropod lineages, namely Euchelicerata (spiders), Hexapoda (insects), and Myriapoda …

A New Species Of Trichopeltis Pocock, 1894 From Southern China, With A Checklist And A Distribution Map Of Trichopeltis Species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Cryptodesmidae), Natdanai Likhitrakarn, Sergei I. Golovatch, Ruttapon Srisonchai

KIP Articles

The millipede genus Trichopeltis Pocock, 1894 contains 12 described species including a new species from southern China described here. Trichopeltis sutchariti sp. n. can be distinguished from congeners by its gonopods that are strongly caudolaterally curved and have a prominent, high, curved, densely setose process on each coxa. An updated checklist and a distribution map are provided for all species of the genus.

Flowstone Growth In Gournier River (Vercors, France): A Diachronic Landscape Analysis By 3d Modelling And Photo Draping, Kim Genuite, Yves Perrette, Stéphane Jaillet

International Journal of Speleology

Calcite surface has been reported by cavers and scientists over the last decades. Here, we present a methodological work aimed at quantifying that growth. We suggest a method of draping old photographs of a part of the Gournier Cave onto a 3D model. This work relies on a collection of photographs taken by cavers. We have chosen to study a site for which the maximum number of photographs was available. The series of photographs over time makes it possible to overcome the limitation of calcite crust dating. The acquisition of the 3D model has been achieved using terrestrial LIDAR. Then, …

The Weekly Challenger : 2017 : 12 : 21, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Newspaper collection

No abstract provided.

Quantifying The Burden Of Vampire Bat Rabies In Peruvian Livestock, Julio A. Benavides, Elizabeth Rojas Paniagua, Katie Hampson

KIP Articles

Background: Knowledge of infectious disease burden is necessary to appropriately allocate resources for prevention and control. In Latin America, rabies is among the most important zoonoses for human health and agriculture, but the burden of disease attributed to its main reservoir, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), remains uncertain. Methodology/Principal findings: We used questionnaires to quantify under-reporting of livestock deaths across 40 agricultural communities with differing access to health resources and epidemiological histories of vampire bat rabies (VBR) in the regions of Apurimac, Ayacucho and Cusco in southern Peru. Farmers who believed VBR was absent from their communities were one …

The Blurred Line Between Photic And Aphotic Environments: A Large Mexican Cave With Almost No Dark Zone, Luis M. Mejía-Ortíz, Tanja Pipan, David C. Culver, Peter Sprouse

International Journal of Speleology

Sistema Muévelo Rico is a 1.2 km long cave in Quintana Roo, less than 2 km from the Caribbean Sea. We measured illuminance to a level of 0.1 lux, organic matter (weight loss on ignition), temperature, and relative humidity. The last two were measured at hourly intervals for nearly one year. Approximately one-third of the cave has illuminance values greater than 0.01 lux, and most of the rest of the cave has light as well. Temperature and relative humidity were relatively constant, but they showed a daily cycle at all stations, albeit with different strengths. Organic matter averaged 8%, intermediate …

Phosphate Speleothems In Caves Developed In Iron Ores And Laterites Of The Carajás Mineral Province (Brazil) And A New Occurrence Of Spheniscidite, Alan R.L. Albuquerque, Rômulo S. Angélica, Daniele F. Gonçalves, Simone P.A. Paz

International Journal of Speleology

The Carajás Mineral Province has one of the largest concentrations of caves in Brazil, and its iron ore is among the country’s main exports. As a result of iron ore intense extraction, new environmental policies have been implemented. In an attempt to balance economic activity and environmental conservation, an inventory and a relevance-based classification of caves were implemented in 2008 as criteria for environmental licensing of mining ventures. This implementation motivated the present study of phosphate speleothems in Carajás’ caves developed in ferriferous rocks. The objectives of this study are to describe the phosphate minerals and their formation processes based …

Groundwater Flood Hazards And Mechanisms In Lowland Karst Terrains, Owen Naughton, Ted Mccormack, Laurence Gill

KIP Articles

The spatial and temporal complexities of flooding in karst terrains pose unique challenges in flood risk management. Lowland karst landscapes can be particularly susceptible to groundwater flooding due to a combination of low aquifer storage, high diffusivity and limited or absent surface drainage. Numerous notable groundwater flood events have been recorded in the Republic of Ireland throughout the twentieth century, but flooding during the winters of 2009 and 2015 was the most severe on record, causing widespread and prolonged disruption and damage to property and infrastructure. Effective flood risk management requires an understanding of the recharge, storage and transport mechanisms …

Commencement Convocation Program, Usf, Graduate, December 9, 2017, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

Honorary Doctor of Engineering and Nursing - Patricia Flatley-Brennan

College Of Arts & Sciences Council Meeting : 2017 : 12 : 08, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. College Of Arts & Sciences.

College of Arts and Sciences: College Council Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Commencement Convocation Program, Usf, Baccalaureates, December 8, 2017, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

Outstnding Graduate - Alexis Drees; Honorary Doctor of Science - Andrew Hamilton; King O'Neal Scholars - Aneesa Ali, Andrew Apugliese, David Blanchard, Janet Diaz Montes, Mary Edwards, Shayna Gurvitz, Bonnie Hogan Lowlery, Ryan Kurtz, Robert Lockridge, Natalie Meyer, Rachel Moore, Ashley Nandrasy, Carlos Pena Duran, Brittany Raymond, Paul Rogers, Nicholas Romano, Khadijah Tiamiyu, Xamil Vega, Amy Whitehurst, George Wolf, and Alexander Zhideev

Assessing Preservation Priorities Of Caves And Karst Areas Using The Frequency Of Endemic Cave-Dwelling Species, Eugen Nitzu, Marius Vlaicu, Andrei Giurginca, Ioana N. Meleg, Ionut Popa, Augustin Nae, Ştefan Baba

International Journal of Speleology

Endemic and rare species as bioindicators of habitat vulnerability were used to develop protection and management plans for biotope prioritization (mainly islands habitats, lava tubes or groundwaters). Due to their narrow distribution, the endemic species (species confined to a restricted geographic area) are more susceptible to ecological disequilibrium and habitat loss than the widespread ones. Consequently, endemics become endangered in the context of ecological disturbance caused by anthropogenic pressure, making them suitable candidates to assess environmental preservation needs. Taking into consideration that most of the stygobitic and troglobitic species are endemic and confined to specific karst areas, based on their …

Automated Classification Of Dolphin Echolocation Click Types From The Gulf Of Mexico, Kaitlin E. Fraiser, Marie A. Roch, Melissa S. Soldevilla, Lance P. Garrison, John A. Hildebrand

C-IMAGE Publications

Delphinids produce large numbers of short duration, broadband echolocation clicks which may be useful for species classification in passive acoustic monitoring efforts. A challenge in echolocation click classification is to overcome the many sources of variability to recognize underlying patterns across many detections. An automated unsupervised network-based classification method was developed to simulate the approach a human analyst uses when categorizing click types: Clusters of similar clicks were identified by incorporating multiple click characteristics (spectral shape and inter-click interval distributions) to distinguish within-type from between-type variation, and identify distinct, persistent click types. Once click types were established, an algorithm for …

The Weekly Challenger : 2017 : 12 : 07, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Newspaper collection

No abstract provided.

Underground Dinosaur Tracksite Inside A Karst Of Southern France: Early Jurassic Tridactyl Traces From The Dolomitic Formation Of The Malaval Cave (Lozère), Jean-David Moreau, Vincent Trincal, Daniel André, Louis Baret, Alain Jacquet, Michel Wienin

International Journal of Speleology

Although underground dinosaur tracksites inside anthropic cavities such as mines or tunnels are well-known throughout the world, footprints inside natural karstic caves remain extremely rare. The Malaval Cave (Lozère, southern France) is well-known by speleologists for the abundance and the exceptional quality of acicular and helictite aragonite speleothems. Recent palaeontological prospecting inside this cave allowed the discovery of tridactyl dinosaur tracks. Here, a detailed study of theropod footprints was for the first time conducted inside a natural karstic cave, using photogrammetric imaging technique. Tracks from the Malaval Cave are located inside the “Super-Blanches” galleries. More than 26 footprints were identified. …

Undergraduate Council Meeting : 2017 : 12 : 06, Undergraduate Council

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Senate Council: Undergraduate

No abstract provided.

Harbor Notes : 2017 : 12 : 06, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Office Of University Advancement.

Harbor Notes

No abstract provided.

Distinguishing Patterns Of Utopia And Dystopia, East And West, Huai-Hsuan Huang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Before Sir Thomas More published Utopia and defined his ideal world with this fictional land, humans had been looking for their ideal society for centuries based on various religions and cultures. Yet, there are a few studies focusing on Utopia and Dystopia in cross-cultural contexts. This thesis will explore the two main questions: 1) can Utopia and Dystopia be separated? and 2) how does the utopian concept in the West involve in Eastern culture during the postwar period in postcolonial perspective?

Phoenix in Japan and THX 1138 in U.S. are two well-known works during the post-World War II period via …

Perceptual And Physiologic Analysis Of Dystussia In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Stephanie Anne Watts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Swallowing and cough are two vital functions that are reflexive in nature and are related to each other in terms of shared neural and anatomical space. When a disorder impacts normal and effective swallowing and/or cough, the consequences can be life-threatening. Evaluation and treatment of swallowing and cough disorders can fall under the scope of practice of the speech-language pathologist and speech-language pathologists often are leading professionals. Furthermore, much of the current research on swallowing and cough is spearheaded by speech-language pathologists often working with a multi-disciplinary team. The focus of this dissertation is on the clinical evaluation of cough …

Genealib Archive 2017-12, Genealib

GENEALIB Archive

No abstract provided.

Cutr Connections [December 2017], Cutr

CUTR Newsletters

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Temporal And Frequency Niches During The Dawn Chorus Of Birds In Monteverde, Costa Rica, December 2017, Brianne Nguyen

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

Many animals communicate using acoustic signals, making frequency bands a limited resource. To deal with this, animals can partition themselves into acoustic frequency niches. Species of insects, anurans, and birds have been observed to call at discrete frequencies when sharing space with each other. In this study, I recorded and analyzed the temporal and frequency overlap in bird calls around dawn in Monteverde, Costa Rica over the course of ten days. I found very little temporal overlap in the sample I recorded. The calls that did overlap often also overlapped in frequency. My results suggest that frequency niches are not …

Perceptions Of Macro Social Work Education: An Exploratory Study Of Educators And Practitioners, Katherine Hill, Christina L. Erickson, Linda P. Donaldson, Sondra J. Fogel, Sarah M. Ferguson

Social Work Faculty Publications

Social work graduate education is responsive to and reflective of larger environmental forces, including economic and job market trends, regulations by diverse organizations, and student interests. A national online survey of macro social work educators (n=208) and macro social work practitioners (n=383) explored their perceptions of the intersections between these forces and graduate social work education. Findings indicate that while there remains a consistent level of support for and inclusion of macro social work within MSW programs from both groups, macro practitioners identified a concurrent experience of negative perceptions, attitudes, and experiences toward macro social work education while in their …

Biological Treatment Of Monteverde Gray Water Using Effective Microorganisms And Mountain Microorganisms, December 2017, Sierra Raby

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

As in many rural or less structurally developed areas, homeowners and businesses in Monteverde, Costa Rica filter grey water through grease traps or biojardineras or release it directly into their yards. This study evaluates the efficacy of two concentrations of Effective Microorganisms (EM) and Mountain Microorganisms (MM) in improving local grey water. These solutions contain biologically beneficial bacteria, yeast, and fungi. I collected grey water from six residential and commercial sources, treated each source with EM and MM in different concentrations, and gathered water quality metrics from each group for seven days. The metrics included surface cover, sedimentation, layering, smell, …

Zooplankton Morphospecies And Abundance In Relation With Tide In Mangroves Of Cuajiniquil, Costa Rica, December 2017, Stephanie Li

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

In two decades, at least 35% of the world’s mangroves have been lost, which is more than both tropical rain forests and coral reefs (Valiela et al. 2001). Mangroves act as an important habitat and feeding grounds for fish (Sasekumar et al. 1992). Zooplankton are abundant in the mangroves and are important organisms to study to get an understanding of the foundation of ecosystem’s food chain. Zooplankton eat phytoplankton and get eaten by small fish and other sea animals, providing a food source and extending the food chain. I aimed to ask and answer the following question: is there a …

Presence And Prevalence Of Microplastics In The Water And Marine Organisms Of The Gulf Of Santa Elena, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, December 2017, Eliot Headley

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

Marine environments are sinks for microplastic pollution. Microplastics are widely dispersed through the world’s Ocean and can be fibrous. Synthetic microfibers shed from clothing, wash into rivers, and eventually into the Ocean. These microplastic pieces can be deleterious to marine organisms and the humans that consume them. My aim was to investigate the presence and prevalence of microplastics in the Gulf of Santa Elena, Costa Rica. Microplastics were collected through a plankton net and through dissection of fish guts from local fishermens’ catch. Microplastics, most of which microfibers, were observed in every plankton net sample and in six of the …

Synchronized Male Cricket Calls In Choruses Of The Cricket Anaxipha Sp., December 2017, Michael Morales

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

In Monteverde, there is a species of cricket within the Genus Anaxipha where males sing in loud choruses at night. I wanted to explore the purpose of this behavior by looking at the call and response activity between individual males. In this experiment, I looked at male responses to manipulations of the species male song, which is composed of two elements. I conducted a series of playback experiments on captive crickets. Responses of test subjects were documented while presenting playbacks of manipulated songs. Each playback treatment had a unique response from the crickets being tested. However, overall, it appears that …

The Effects Of Reforestation On Mammal Diversity And Abundance In Monteverde, Costa Rica, December 2017, Noelle Pruett

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

Reforestation is an important mechanism in helping previously deforested landscapes recover. However, reforested areas tend to have less diversity in vegetation, due to the fact that humans are not able to replicate the same diversity or pattern of regeneration that would occur naturally. I investigated whether or not these changes in forest types and vegetation affect the diversity and abundance of mammals that inhabit these areas. I used both camera traps and Sherman traps to survey mammals from areas with reforestation and with natural regeneration. I observed a total of 72 mammals from five species in the camera traps. I …

Possible Effects Of Long-Term Weather Changes And Extreme Weather Events On Mice Population Abundances In Monteverde, Costa Rica, December 2017, Emily S. Parker

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

Mice and rat abundance is determined by a multitude of factors, including, but not limited to: climate change, predation, and food availability. In this study, I analyzed the effects of daily and long-term weather on rodent populations to understand a possible decrease in abundance from 2016 to 2017 in Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. I took observations of individuals from four different sites: Santa Elena, Bajo del Tigre, Dwight and Rachel Crandell Memorial Reserve, and the Estación Biológica Monteverde. While a considerable number of specimens were captured in Bajo del Tigre, I observed the total abundance of rodents to be significantly …

Adaptive Significance And Abundance Of Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates In The Cuajiniquil Bay, December 2017, Zac Durall

Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

Bioluminescence in nature is a phenomenon that is found in many different organisms, including fungi, fish and bacteria. Of bioluminescent organisms, dinoflagellates are some of the most common. Despite their abundance, the ecological function of the bioluminescence in dinoflagellates is not fully understood. In my study I attempted to explain the ecological function of this bioluminescence by observing dinoflagellate abundances at different times of day. I collected water samples in the Cuajiniquil Bay in Costa Rica, over the course of seven days, and counted the total number of organisms that I found. This was done to try to find a …