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Structural Benefits And Distribution Of Cribellar Thread In Adult Tengella Radiata Webs (Araneae: Tengellidae), May 2017, Annakaren Ramirez

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Tengella radiata is a spider endemic to Costa Rica whose webs change as spiderlings mature into adulthood. As adults, a key component of their webs is their use of cribellar thread, spun from a specialized silk-producing organ, the cribellum. This paper seeks to figure out what the structural benefits and distribution of this silk in adult Tengella radiata webs. To address this question, I analyzed thread density in different regions of the web, the amount of cribellar thread used in different segments of the web, and tested thread resistance in cribellar and non-cribellar thread. I found that the area near …

Fungal Growth Inhibition By Quercus Cortesii Galls And The Presence Of Gall-Invaders, May 2017, Samantha E. Simon

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Galls are abnormal plant growths induced by highly specialized arthropods and are used as a food source and for protection for the developing larvae. The chemical composition within galls is known for containing high levels of tannins, which have anti-fungal and anti-herbivory properties. This study focuses on the effect of tannins and other chemicals extracted from Quercus cortesii galls on the inhibition of the fungi Mycena citricolor. This study also explores the presence of gall-invaders such as arthropods and vertebrates. Two methods of treatment were used to determine the effect that tannins and other chemicals extracted from cynipid wasp galls …

The Effectiveness Of Citronella Essential Oil Extract As A Mosquito Larvicide Against Culex Spp., May 2017, Mina M. Patel

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

The production and use of mosquito insecticides has long been practiced; presently, the search for natural insecticides and larvicides is a flourishing field. Natural insecticides and larvicides persist less in the environment and are less toxic than synthetic insecticides such as DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane). I studied the effectiveness of citronella grass, Cymbopogon nardus, as a larvicide against Culex quinquefasciatus and Culex nigripalpus mosquito larvae and how it affected their behaviors. The larvae were exposed to three different treatments: two self-prepared extractions of citronella oil of different concentrations and a natural commercialized citronella repellant spray. I recorded the number of deaths and …

The Weekly Challenger, April 27, 2017, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The April 27, 2017, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

Evolution, Ecology, And Disparities: Constructing Stature, Immune Functioning, And Reproduction In Brazilian Quilombo, And United States, Women, Anna C. Rivara

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to test how growth, reproduction, and immune functioning interact in two populations of adult women residing in vastly different socio-economic and ecological environments, the Kalunga quilombo in Brazil, and the United States of America. The presence of life history trade-offs was tested to determine how the different envirnonments, and socio-ecological contexts of the populations were creating differential risks for health and reproductive outcomes, and life history trade-offs.

I hypothesized that the Kalunga people, living in very difficult and harsh conditions, would experience greater amounts of, and more severe, life history trade-offs than the U.S. …

Characterizing Gross Lesions In Corals On Fringing Reefs Of Taiwan And Hainan Island, China, Adrienne George

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Visible lesions on coral colonies are potential indicators that environmental stressors are influencing a reef. To test this hypothesis, pairs of near-shore reefs on Taiwan were surveyed along an anthropogenically influenced gradient that included locations near the cities of Taipei and Taitung, and more remote reefs off Green Island. Two fringing reefs at Sanya, Hainan Island, a popular Chinese resort area, were also assessed. Field surveys were undertaken to detect, quantify and visually describe the occurrence of lesions at each site. Coral mucus samples were collected from both normal-appearing polyps and lesion-afflicted areas of colonies to assess carbon requirements of …

Traveling Women And Consuming Place In Eighteenth-Century Travel Letters And Journals, Cassie Patricia Childs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traveling Women and Consuming Place in Eighteenth-Century Travel Letters and Journals considers how various women-authored travel narratives of the long eighteenth century employ food in the construction of place and identity. Chronologically charting the letters and journals of Delarivier Manley, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Janet Schaw, and Frances Burney, I argue that the “critical food moments” described in their letters and journals demonstrate material, cultural, and social implications about consumption. My interdisciplinary project is located at the intersection of three seemingly divergent topics: food studies, human geography, and women-authored travel narratives. Approaching “place” as a way of being-in-the-world, my project …

Non-Classical Regulators In Staphylococcus Aureus, Andy Weiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is a highly problematic human pathogen due to its ability to cause devastating infections, paired with a capacity to withstand the action of a large fraction of available antibiotics. Both pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance are encoded by numerous genomic elements, though the expression of these factors is energetically costly and not always beneficial for cellular survival. Therefore, S. aureus has developed sophisticated regulatory networks to integrate a multitude of signals, enabling it to navigate the delicate balance between its pathogenic lifestyle and baseline needs for cellular energy homeostasis. It is thus imperative to study S. aureus behavior and …

The Weekly Challenger, April 6, 2017, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The April 6, 2017, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

Experimental Evaluation Of Cooling Effectiveness And Water Conservation In A Poultry House Using Flow Blurring® Atomizers, Rafael M. Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increases in population as well as economic improvements in developing countries are generating a larger demand for animal protein products. Current animal growth processes inherently, require the use of water in many forms throughout the growth cycle. Water is the most important natural resource on earth to sustain life, and in many developing countries is a scarce resource that must be used wisely. Studies have revealed that poultry growth can take place with less water consumption, when compared with other sources of animal protein (e.g., cattle, pork). In this research, an evaporative Flow Blurring^® cooling system was considered as …

An Exploratory Case Study Of Hospitality Students’ Perceptions Of Experiential Learning, Joe Askren

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how students described the curriculum in the Introduction to Food Production class and how they perceived the curriculum prepared them for their future in the hospitality industry. The exploratory questions that guided the study were how do students describe the experiential learning curriculum in the Introduction to Food Production course, what ways do students perceive the curriculum in the Introduction to Food Production course prepares them for their future in hospitality industry, and what changes in the curriculum do students think might improve the Introduction to Food Production course and why? The …

An Exploration Of Self-Compassion And Wellness Behaviors Among Practicing School Counselors, Anjanette Todd

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the American School Counseling Association (ASCA, 2010), school counselors are charged with meeting the academic, social/emotional and career needs of all students (2010). In addition, school counselors serve as the front line in dealing with trauma and crisis in their schools. Those counselors who understand the importance of their own wellness and practice healthy lifestyle behaviors are better equipped to meet these demands.

Unfortunately, not all school counselors are practicing what they advocate for their students relative to promoting wellness in their own lives (O'Halloran & Linton, 2000). This lack of congruence, where school counselors are not modeling …

The Sustainability Of Career And Technical Education Teacher Preparation Programs In Florida, Lisa Martino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a historical trend of decline in available Career and Technical Education (CTE) Teacher Preparation programs and an increase in CTE course and program enrollments in Florida’s secondary school system. This contradiction in CTE teacher supply and demand raises an important question. What is going on? More specifically, what sustains the remaining programs in the face of this decline?

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore sustainability factors from past and present CTE teacher preparation program educators and administrators to gain a better understanding of this issue. The participant selection for this study was identified from four …

Acute Kidney Injury And Chronic Kidney Disease, Jin Wei

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ischemia and reperfusion are natural steps during kidney transplantation, and IRI is considered one of the most important nonspecific factors affecting allograft dysfunction. Transplanted organs experience several episodes of ischemia, in which cold ischemia occurs during allograft storage in preservation solutions.

Even though cold ischemia has been studied extensively, all of the studies have been carried out in vitro and ex vivo models. There is no in vivo model available to examine renal IRI induced solely by cold ischemia.

In the present study, we developed an in vivo mouse model to study renal IRI induced exclusively by cold ischemia through …

Crow's Nest, April 3, 2017, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The April 3, 2017, issue of the Crow's Nest.

Poverty In The Land Of Plenty? Deconstructing Role Of Community-Based Organizations In A Small Community, John Kevin Trainor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using the lens of a community-based childhood obesity intervention, it is possible to examine the role of non-profit organizations in community development and to deconstruct the “community” in community-based research and identify the many competing interests within a community. This contextual understanding includes how the community is formed, how a community’s agenda is set, and who will complete the tasks outlined in that agenda. In applied anthropological settings and public health interventions that are community-based, it is essential to understand the context of community and which community (or communities) the researcher is working with to ensure that the data you …

Ant 4930 Research In Physician Interaction, Roberta Baer

Service-Learning Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Volunteer Tourism: Fulfilling The Needs For God And Medicine In Latin America, Erin Howell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to understand how short-term medical missions fulfill health needs for their recipients in Honduras, and how in turn, mission participants experience need fulfillment as well. By using the theoretical concept of co-construction of health to see how health needs are or are not met, I conducted a thematic analysis of the Baptist Medical and Dental Mission International (BMDMI) resulting in the following themes: 1.) Mission workers receive fulfillment from their experiences in the mission field. 2.) Mission recipients receive partial fulfillment of needs from the mission. 3). Through a calling, missions are a means to an end. …

The Weekly Challenger, March 23, 2017, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The March 23, 2017, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Goal Setting And Textual Feedback Using A Wearable Technology For Increasing Running Distance, Michael Zarate

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a growing problem that has life-threatening health consequences. One way to combat obesity is by increasing physical activity levels, which has been a focus of recent applied behavioral research. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of goal setting and textual feedback without social support to increase physical activity, specifically weekly running distance. A multiple-baseline across participants design was employed with four participants using a Fitbit Flex accelerometer to collect two physical activity measures, intense steps and distance. Results showed a significant increase in weekly running distance for two out of four participants following the …

Consistency Of Structural Color Across Molts: The Effects Of Environmental Conditions And Stress On Feather Ultraviolet Reflectance, Rebecca Lynn Windsor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Across avian systems, plumage ornamentation is often considered a signal of individual fitness, condition, sex, or status, and varies due to genetics or environmental sources. In species with structural coloration, plumage variation results from differences in the amount of energy allocated to feather growth during molt, presenting a unique opportunity to study the link between individual quality and ornamentation. In cooperative breeding species, such as the Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens), the role of structural color as a signal is particularly important because helpers may delay breeding for one to several years and competition for space is high. Florida Scrub-Jay juveniles …

Reducing Caregiver Burden: Fostering Healthy Aging And Social Support, Maria A. Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over 43.5 million Americans provide informal care to a fast-growing elderly population in the United States. Informal care allows care-recipients to remain functional members of society. However, research suggests that the demands of informal care can negatively impact the health of caregivers. For example, caregiver burden increases the risk for poor health in caregivers compared to non-caregivers. Caregiving research is on the rise, but the dynamics of informal care in active retirement communities remains widely unexplored. To provide adequate services to lessen caregiver burden and improve the Quality of Life (QoL) of informal caregivers, the various settings in which informal …