Digital Commons Network^™

A 1400-Year Multi-Proxy Record Of Climate Variability From The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Julie N. Richey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A continuous, decadal-scale resolution multi-proxy record of climate variability over the past 1400 years in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) was constructed from a box core recovered in the Pigmy Basin. Proxies include paired analyses of Mg/Ca and oxygen isotopes in the white variety of the planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber and relative abundance variations of G. sacculifer in the foraminifer assemblages. Two multi-decadal intervals of sustained high Mg/Ca values indicate GOM sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) were as warm or warmer than near-modern conditions between 1000 and 1400 yrs BP. Foraminiferal Mg/Ca values during the coolest interval of the Little Ice …

The Influence Of The Loop Current On The Diversity, Abundance And Distribution Of Zooplankton In The Gulf Of Mexico, Katie Rathmell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Physical processes in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and mesoscale (10-300 km) processes associated with the Loop Current are fairly well known. However, little is known about the physical/ biological interactions of the frontal boundary system of the Loop Current. Zooplankton abundance and distribution was determined at 28 stations in the vicinity of the Loop Current. Species richness was high at all stations. Copepods comprised 60% of the total zooplankton collected. Oithona plumifera, Nannocalanus minor and Euchaeta marina were the most abundant copepods. Chaetognaths and ostracods were also very abundant and made up 11 and 5 % respectively of the …

Relationship Between Nurses’ Management Of Pediatric Oncology Patients’ Symptoms And Job Satisfaction, Jennifer I. Rheingans

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A primary function of the pediatric oncology nurse is to provide symptom management to children with cancer. Symptom management strategies have been published, but there is scarce literature examining neither the actual use of these nursing interventions, nor the effects of using these interventions on the nurses' perceived work environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the nursing interventions used in treating pediatric oncology patients' symptoms, as well as the emotional sequelae from providing this care. Phase One of this study examined the content validity of the newly developed Nurses Distress and Interventions for Symptoms Survey (NDISS) utilizing …

Perceptions Of Senior Faculty Concerning Doctoral Student Preparation For Faculty Roles, Jennifer M. Purcell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Calls for reform in doctoral education are not new. However, the past decade has experienced renewed interest and discussion in preparing the future professoriate. Whereas most studies of graduate student socialization and preparation for faculty roles have focused on doctoral students or new faculty, this study examined the perceptions of senior faculty members involved in doctoral education. All senior faculty (n=4970) in biological sciences, English, mathematics, and non-clinical psychology from a stratified sample of 69 research universities nationwide were invited to participate. More than 1150 faculty completed a web-based survey. Respondents rated the importance of 18 competencies (based on a …

Determining Habitat Preferences Of The Juvenile Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus Polyphemus) Using Spatially Modeled Vegetation On A Central Florida Sandhill, Kristan Marie Nicole Raymond

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Public and private conservation areas are becoming increasingly important to the continued survival of the gopher tortoise, making it imperative that land managers know the specific habitat requirements of juvenile gopher tortoises because recruitment is key to species persistence. Little is currently known about environmental factors that underlie hatchling and juvenile survival and recruitment in gopher tortoise populations. Because of the short duration and distance of juvenile tortoise foraging journeys, food availability, thermoregulatory conditions, and refugia near the burrow may considerably affect juvenile growth and survival. This two-year study of a central Florida sandhill examines the spatial relationship between juvenile …

Bcl-2 Related Ovarian Killer, Bok, Is Cell Cycle Regulated And Sensitizes To Stress-Induced Apoptosis, José M. Rodríguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bok/Mtd (Bcl-2-related ovarian killer/Matador) is considered a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family. Though identified in 1997, little is known about its biological role. We have previously demonstrated that Bok mRNA is upregulated following E2F1 over-expression. In the current work, we demonstrate that Bok RNA is low in quiescent cells and rises upon serum stimulation. To determine the mechanism underlying this regulation, we cloned and characterized the mouse Bok promoter. We find that the mouse promoter contains a conserved E2F binding site (-43 to -49) and that a Bok promoter-driven luciferase reporter is activated by serum stimulation dependent on this …

Credibility Perceptions Of Television And Online News, Charmy G. Sabigan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Three major factors influence audience's credibility perception of mediated news on television and on the internet. This study found that reporters' credibility, media credibility, and news credibility had direct influence to the credibility of news presented on both media. Reporters' credibility on both media could be measured by their expertise, intelligence, education, trustworthiness, and authoritativeness. Television and the internet were evaluated differently. Television was measured by its comprehensiveness, concern for the interest of the public, and fairness. The internet was assessed on its trustworthiness, consideration of public interest, and objectivity. News credibility for both media, however, could be evaluated using …

An Experimental Study Of Pro-Dieting And Anti-Dieting Psychoeducational Messages: Effects On Immediate And Short-Term Psychological Functioning And Weight Control Practices In College Women, Megan Roehrig

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While dieting is relatively normative in our society, it is controversial within the fields of eating disorders and obesity. Dieting for weight loss has been touted by the obesity prevention field as a solution to the growing obesity epidemic, yet a body of research in the eating disorders field has also implicated it in the etiology and maintenance of eating pathology. Thus, a divergence in approaches toward dieting has emerged, with both prodieting and anti-dieting messages being recommended. Little is known, however, about the impact of these two types of messages on immediate and short-term psychological functioning and weight control …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Interfaces Between Naturally Derived And Synthetic Nanostructures For Biomedical Applications, Souheil Zekri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of nanotechnology to develop methods for fabrication and characterization of organized hybrid nanostructures that include integrated polymeric, biological and inorganic compounds has increased exponentially during the last decade. Such bio-nano-composite materials could be used in solving current biomedical problems spanning from nanomedicine to tissue engineering and biosensing. In this dissertation, a systematic study has been carried out on the synthesis, characterization, of two interfaces between naturally derived and synthetic nanostructures. Carbon nanotubes and porous silicon represent the synthetic nanostructures that were developed for the purpose of interfacing with the naturally derived bovine type I collagen and respiratory syncytial …

Seasonal Variations Of Co2 And 222Rn In A Mediterranean Sinkhole - Spring (Causse D’Aumelas, Se France), Christelle Batiot-Guilhe, Jean-Luc Seidel, Hervé Jourde, Olivier Hébrard, Vincent Bailly-Comte

International Journal of Speleology

Carbon dioxide and ²²²Rn monitoring of the atmosphere of a Mediterranean sink hole - spring (SE France) during two hydrological cycles (from September 2004 to September 2006) showed seasonal variations with very high concentrations during summer (greater than 6% and 20 000 Bq/m³, respectively). Gas dynamics in caves often show seasonal variations. Meteorological parameters (barometric pressure and temperature mainly), cave geometry and fracture networks control exchanges between the cavity and outside atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and ²²²Rn may have different sources (atmosphere, soil, bedrock, deep gas diffusion, in situ oxidation of organic matter and, in some caves, …

Bomb-Spike Dating Of A Mummified Baboon In Ludwig Cave, Namibia, Greg Hodgins, George A. Brook, Eugene Marais

International Journal of Speleology

In 1982 a mummified adult female baboon was discovered on a ledge in Ludwig Cave in Namibia. A toe bone was removed for dating in July 1995. AMS radiocarbon dating of bone collagen, tendon, and skin indicates a post-modern age. Application of the atomic bomb-spike calibration curve suggests death in late 1977 and an age at death of around 19 years. Baboons roost in the cave and the mummified female, along with a mummified juvenile male discovered in 2002 and three rotting corpses discovered in 1995, were probably chased by other baboons or by leopards down a ca. 6 m …

Colour Doppler Spatial Resolution Performance Testing, Jacinta Browne, Ian Brown, Peter Hoskins, Amanda Watson, Alex Elliott

Articles

No abstract available

Survey Of Climate Change Litigation, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Approximately 35 lawsuits have been filed in the United States concerning global climate change, together with several administrative proceedings and officially threatened actions. About half of them have led to judicial decisions, and several of those are under appeal; most of the rest are pending.

Much attention has deservedly gone to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. the EPA, but that is only the tip of the figurative iceberg; and unlike most of the real ones, it is growing rather than melting.

This article surveys U.S. climate change litigation. The lawsuits can be broadly divided between those …

A World Without Marriage, Elizabeth S. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

The legal status of marriage has become the focus of a great deal of controversy in recent years. Social and religious conservatives have voiced alarm at the decline of marriage in an era in which divorce rates are high and increasing numbers of people live in nonmarital families. For these advocates, social welfare rests on the survival (or revival) of traditional marriage. Meanwhile, critics from the left argue that marriage as the preferred and privileged family form will (and should) soon be a thing of the past. Some feminists, such as Martha Fineman and Nancy Polikoff, want to abolish legal …

Social Contagion Of Violence, Jeffrey A. Fagan, Deanna L. Wilkinson, Garth Davies

Faculty Scholarship

In this chapter, we assess whether the roller-coaster pattern of homicides in New York City beginning in 1985 fits a contagion model and identify mechanisms of social contagion that predict its spread across social and physical space. This framework for interpreting the homicide trends as an epidemic includes two perspectives. First, the sharp rise and fall are indicative of a nonlinear pattern in which the phenomenon spreads at a rate far beyond what would be predicted by exposure to some external factor and declines in a similar pattern in which the reduction from year to year exceeds what might be …

A Peroxisomal Acyltransferase In Mouse Identifies A Novel Pathway For Taurine Conjugation Of Fatty Acids., Sarah-Jayne Reilly, Eithne O'Shea, O'Byrne James, Stefan Alexson, Mary Hunt

Articles

A wide variety of endogenous carboxylic acids and xenobiotics are conjugated with amino acids, before excretion in urine or bile. The conjugation of carboxylic acids and bile acids with taurine and glycine has been widely characterized and de-novo synthesized bile acids are conjugated to either glycine or taurine in peroxisomes. Peroxisomes are also involved in the oxidation of several other lipid molecules, such as very long chain acyl-CoAs, branched chain acyl-CoAs and prostaglandins. In this study we have now identified a novel peroxisomal enzyme called acyl-CoA:amino acid N-acyltransferase (ACNAT1). Recombinantly expressed ACNAT1 acts as an acyltransferase that efficiently conjugates very …

Adenoviral Mediated Gene Transfer Into The Dog Brain In Vivo, Marianela Candolfi, Kurt Kroeger, Elizabeth Pluhar, Chunyan Liu, Carlos Barcia, Josee Bergeron, Mariana Puntel, James Curtin, Elizabeth Mcniel, Andrew Freese, John Ohlfest, Peter Moore, William Kuoy, Pedro Lowenstein, Maria Castro

Articles

OBJECTIVE: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a devastating brain tumor for which there is no cure. Adenoviral-mediated transfer of conditional cytotoxic (herpes simplex virus [HSV] 1-derived thymidine kinase [TK]) and immunostimulatory (Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand [Flt3L]) transgenes elicited immune-mediated long-term survival in a syngeneic intracranial GBM model in rodents. However, the lack of a large GBM animal model makes it difficult to predict the outcome of therapies in humans. Dogs develop spontaneous GBM that closely resemble the human disease; therefore, they constitute an excellent large animal model. We assayed the transduction efficiency of adenoviral vectors (Ads) encoding beta-galactosidase (betaGal), TK, …

Human Papillomavirus Prevalence And Genotypes In An Opportunistically Screened Irish Female Population, Helen Keegan, Fergus Ryan, Alison Malkin, Mairead Griffin, Helen Lambkin

Articles

This study aims to evaluate human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and predominating genotypes in liquid-based cervical cytology samples from an Irish urban female population. In addition to use of routine cervical cytology testing, women are screened for HPV using the MY09/11 primers for the HPV L1 gene and primers for β-globin amplification in a multiplex format. Overall, 996 women between the ages of 16 and 72 years (average age: 35) are included in the study and HPV prevalence was 19.8%. Cytology results showed that 88.9% were normal, 9% borderline or mild dyskaryosis, 1.1% moderate dyskaryosis and 0.9% severe dyskaryosis. Human papillomavirus …

Open Source Biology: A Means To Address The Access & Research Gaps, Katherine M. Nolan-Stevaux

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Fishing For Utility With Expressed Sequences Tags After In Re Fisher, Bryan J. Boyle

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Ipods And Prairie Fires: Designing Legal Regimes For Complex Intellectual Property Systems, Deborah Tussey

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Utilizing Focus Groups To Evaluate An Information Literacy Program In A General Biology Course, Betsy S. Hopkins

Faculty Publications

The Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University (BYU) recently implemented a number of information literacy strategies to help students in Biology 100, a large general education class, find resources for their term assignment. The library's services for Biology 100 students were evaluated using focus groups composed of both teaching assistants and students. This paper will describe the class and the assignment, discuss the impact the class had on library staff, detail the efforts of the staff to meet the needs of Biology 100 students, and present results of focus groups used to evaluate the library's outreach and teaching …

Fall 2007

University of Richmond Magazine

No abstract provided.

Intrafield Patterns Of Wildlife Damage To Corn And Soybeans In Northern Indiana, Travis L. Devault, James C. Beasley, Lee A. Humberg, Brian J. Macgowan, Mónica I. Retamosa, Ollin E. Rhodes Jr.

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Management programs aimed at reducing wildlife damage to row crops rely on information concerning the spatial nature of wildlife damage at local and landscape scales. In this study we explored spatial patterns of wildlife damage within individual corn and soybean fields by describing relationships between specific locations where wildlife damage was recorded and distances from such locations to various habitat types that presumably influenced animal abundance and movements in our study area. Using stratified random sampling, we conducted depredation surveys of 100 corn fi elds and 60 soybean fields from May through October both in 2003 and 2004 and recorded …

An Extraordinary Patch Of Feral Hog Damage In Florida Before And After Initiating Hog Removal, Richard M. Engeman, John Woolard, Henry T. Smith, Jean Bourassa, Bernice U. Constantin, Daniel Griffin

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Feral hogs (Sus scrofa) are a particularly destructive exotic species in the United States (U.S. Department of Agriculture 1999), including Florida, which, along with Hawaii, is one of 2 states cited as having the most severe invasive species problems (U.S. Congress 1993) in the country. First introduced to North America by the European colonists (Conover 2007) hogs were one of the first invasive exotic species to take hold in Florida. They can transmit disease to livestock (Hartin et al. 2007) and humans (Conover and Vail 2007). They impose a variety of negative environmental impacts, including habitat degradation and …

Birth Control Is Not For Everyone: A Response, Allen T. Rutberg

Human–Wildlife Interactions

In her Soap Box critique of wildlife contraception (HWC 2007), Elizabeth Bingham makes 2 basic points (if she will forgive my distillation of a complex set of arguments). She argues, first, that wildlife contraception is too expensive and too slow to act to meet the needs of farmers, ranchers, and other business people who suffer losses from wildlife damage. Second, she argues, inflated expectations for the problem-solving capacity of wildlife contraception are driving more attention and research money into wildlife contraception than a more hard-headed evaluation would warrant.

Appreciating Feral Hogs: Extension Education For Diverse Stakeholders In Texas, Dale Rollins, Billy J. Higginbotham, Kenneth A. Cearly, R. Neal Wilkins

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Texas harbors the largest population of feral hogs (Sus scrofa) in the United States, with populations estimated at >2 million. Depending on one’s perspective, feral hogs are either a pariah (from the farmer’s standpoint) or a popular sporting animal (from a hunter’s standpoint). As feral hogs increase in range and density, conflicts among stakeholders are sure to increase. Texas Cooperative Extension (TCE) initiated educational programs in 1991 to address concerns regarding the presence and management of feral hogs. Since that time, we have developed various workshops, symposia, and educational materials (e.g., print, videotape, and website) as means of …

Perceptions Of Wildlife Damage And Species Conservation: Lessons Learned From The Utah Prairie Dog, R. Dwayne Elmore, Terry A. Messmer, Mark W. Brunson

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The Utah praⁱrie dog (Cynomys parvidens), a federa^lly ^list^ed threatened species, causes damage to a^gricultur^al operations, yet ^little incentive exists for priv_ate la_ndowners to conserve them. Therefore, we surveyed Utah resi_dents to identify stakeho^lder attitud^es regarding prairie dog mana^gement. We assessed how perceptions of wildlife d^amage affect respondent attitudes regarding conservation among agricu^ltural producers, rural residents, and urban residents. Higher levels of perceived wildlife damage were reported for agriculture respondents …

20,25-Diazacholesterol As An Oral Contraceptive For Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Population Management, Paul Nash, Carol A. Furcolow, Kimberly S. Bynum, Christi A. Yoder, Lowell A. Miller, John J. Johnston

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies can become overcrowded, and the colonies, landscape, and people affected by them may benefit from controlled populations. Contraception is a method that may be useful, particularly where lethal control is inappropriate or illegal. We investigated if oral administration of 20,25-diazacholesterol (DiazaCon®), an inhibitor of cholesterol and reproductive steroid hormone production, could reduce reproductive success of treated black-tailed prairie dogs in a fi eld trial. Ten treatments of approximately 45-mg DiazaCon per black-tailed prairie dog yielded a 47% reduction of young:adult ratios compared to control sites. Over a 3-month period, desmosterol, a cholesterol …

Distribution And Disease Prevalence Of Feral Hogs In Missouri, R. Edwin Hartin, Mark R. Ryan, Tyler A. Campbell

Human–Wildlife Interactions

No attempts have been made to document the distribution of feral hogs (Sus scrofa) in Missouri. Also, antibody prevalence for pseudorabies virus and swine brucellosis have not been reported from Missouri. Our objectives were to characterize the current distribution of feral hogs in Missouri and to determine prevalence and distribution of feral hogs with antibodies against selected important diseases. We collected feral hog sighting data both from the public and Missouri Wildlife Services and Missouri Department of Conservation wildlife biologists. We determined prevalence of antibodies against pseudorabies virus, swine brucellosis, tularemia, and classical swine fever. From 2000 to …