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Environmental Imaginaries Of The Middle East And North Africa, Diana K. Davis, Edmund Burke Iii

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

The landscapes of the Middle East have captured our imaginations throughout history. Images of endless golden dunes, camel caravans, isolated desert oases, and rivers lined with palm trees have often framed written and visual representations of the region. Embedded in these portrayals is the common belief that the environment, in most places, has been deforested and desertified by centuries of misuse. It is precisely such orientalist environmental imaginaries, increasingly undermined by contemporary ecological data, that the eleven authors in this volume question. This is the first volume to critically examine culturally constructed views of the environmental history of the Middle …

A Study Of The Effects Of Awareness Of Family Systems On The Staff, Leadership, And Congregations Of First United Methodist Church Paulsboro, John Paul Wallace

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Subterranean Fauna Of A Biodiversity Hotspot Region - Portugal: An Overview And Its Conservation, Ana Sofia P.S. Reboleira, Paulo A.V. Borges, Fernando Gonçalves, Artur R.M. Serrano, Pedro Oromí

International Journal of Speleology

An overview of the obligate hypogean fauna in Portugal (including Azores and Madeira archipelagos) is provided, with a list of obligated cave-dwelling species and subspecies, and a general perspective about its conservation. All the available literature on subterranean Biology of Portugal since the first written record in 1870 until today has been revised. A total of 43 troglobiont and 67 stygobiont species and subspecies from 12 orders have been described so far in these areas, included in the so-called Mediterranean hotspot of biodiversity. The subterranean fauna in Portugal has been considered moderately poor with some endemic relicts and it remains …

Fungal Communities On Speleothem Surfaces In Kartchner Caverns, Arizona, Usa., Michael J. Vaughan, Raina M. Maier, Barry M. Pryor

International Journal of Speleology

Kartchner Caverns, located near Benson, Arizona, USA, is an active carbonate cave that serves as the major attraction for Kartchner Caverns State Park. Low-impact development and maintenance have preserved prediscovery macroscopic cavern features and minimized disturbances to biological communities within the cave.. The goal of this study was to examine fungal diversity in Kartchner Caverns on actively-forming speleothem surfaces. Fifteen formations were sampled from five sites across the cave. Richness was assessed using standard culture-based fungal isolation techniques. A culture-independent analysis using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to assay evidence of community homogeneity across the cave through the …

A Note On The Occurrence Of A Crayback Stalagmite At Niah Caves, Borneo, Joyce Lundberg, Donald A. Mcfarlane

International Journal of Speleology

Crayback stalagmites have mainly been reported from New South Wales, Australia. Here we document a small crayback in the entrance of Painted Cave (Kain Hitam), part of the Niah Caves complex in Sarawak, Borneo. Measuring some 65 cm in length and 18 cm in height, this deposit is elongate in the direction of the dominant wind and thus oriented towards the natural tunnel entrance. It shows the classic humpbacked long profile, made up of small transverse segments or plates, in this case the tail extending towards the entrance. The dark blue-green colour down the centre suggests that cyanobacterial growth follows …

Secondary Halite Deposits In The Iranian Salt Karst: General Description And Origin, Michal Filippi, Jiří Bruthans, Lukáš Palatinus, Mohammad Zare, Naser Asadi

International Journal of Speleology

This paper summaries 12 years of documentation of secondary halite deposits in the Iranian salt karst.

A variety of secondary halite deposits was distinguished and classified into several groups, on the basis of the site and mechanism of their origin. Deposits formed: i) via crystallization in/on streams and pools, ii) from dripping, splashing and aerosol water, iii) from evaporation of seepage and capillary water, and iv) other types of deposits. The following examples of halite forms were distinguished in each of the above mentioned group: i) euhedral crystals, floating rafts (raft cones), thin brine surface crusts and films; ii) straw …

World Karst Science Reviews

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

Minerogenetic Mechanisms Occurring In The Cave Environment: An Overview, Bogdan P. Onac, Paolo Forti

International Journal of Speleology

Perhaps man’s first motivation to explore caves, beyond using them as shelter, was the search for substances that were not available elsewhere: most of them were minerals. However, for a long time it was believed that the cave environment was not very interesting from the mineralogical point of view. This was due to the fact that most cave deposits are normally composed of a single compound: calcium carbonate. Therefore, the systematic study of cave mineralogy is of only recent origin. However, although only a limited number of natural cavities have been investigated in detail, about 350 cave minerals have already …

Mineralogy Of Iza Cave (Rodnei Mountains, N. Romania), Tudor Tămaş, Ferenc Kristály, Lucian Barbu-Tudoran

International Journal of Speleology

The secondary minerals from Iza Cave result from the interactions of karst water and/or cave atmosphere over a variety of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The cave passages expose at various extents Eocene limestones and conglomerates, Oligocene black shales, Upper Precambrian micaschists, marble and dolomitic marble and associated ore deposits.

Twelve secondary minerals identified in the cave (carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, oxides and hydroxides, and silicates) are presented in this study. Calcite, aragonite, gypsum, brushite and hydroxylapatite are the components of common speleothems in the limestone, dolomite and conglomerate areas of the cave. Ankerite crusts are related to areas with pyrite mineralization …

Table Of Contents

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

Alunite Formation Within Silica Stalactites From The Sydney Region, South-Eastern Australia, R. A.L. Wray

International Journal of Speleology

This paper presents X-ray diffraction and SEM evidence for the formation of alunite, and possibly small quantities of natroalunite, within opal-A stalactites formed on quartz sandstone near Sydney in south-eastern, Australia. Alunite has been reported as a speleogenetic mineral from sediments within a number of caves around the world, but this is believed to be the first report of speleothemic alunite in opaline silica speleothems. Individual alunite crystals have not been visually identified, but SEM X-ray element mapping suggests the alunite has formed amongst kaolinite clay. Sedimentary alunite and natroalunite formation is usually associated with the reaction of sulphuric acid …

Iron Oxide And Calcite Associated With Leptothrix Sp. Biofilms Within An Estavelle In The Upper Floridan Aquifer, Lee J. Florea, Chasity L. Stinson, Josh Brewer, Rick Fowler, B Joe Kearns, Anthony M. Greco

International Journal of Speleology

In Thornton’s Cave, an estavelle in west-central Florida, SEM, EDS, and XRD data reveal biofilms that are predominantly comprised of FeOOH-encrusted hollow sheaths that are overgrown and intercalated with calcite. Fragments of this crystalline biofilm adhere to the walls and ceiling as water levels vary within the cave. Those on the wall have a ‘cornflake’ appearance and those affixed to the ceiling hang as fibrous membranes. PCR of DNA in the active biofilm, combined with morphologic data from the tubes in SEM micrographs, point to Leptothrix sp., a common Fe-oxidizing bacteria, as the primary organism in the biofilm. Recent discoveries …

Thermal Response Of Lithium Tantalate For Temperature Measurement, Ardit Agastra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the study of the thermal response of the pyroelectric material named lithium tantalate or LT (LiTaO3) in aid of this material’s possible use for temperature measurement. The temperature range studied was between 5-99 oC. The sensor was excited using a silicon rubber heater. The lithium tantalate sensor and the rubber heater were enclosed such that the temperature would reach steady state faster. The enclosure was a small insulated box in order to reduce any extraneous effects on the sensor. The output signal of the lithium tantalate sensor was then amplified by using four different amplifying circuits and …

Regulation Of Cell Adhesion Strength By Spatial Organization Of Focal Adhesions, Kranthi Kumar Elineni

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cell adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) is critical to various cellular processes like cell spreading, migration, growth and apoptosis. At the tissue level, cell adhesion is important in the pathological and physiological processes that regulate the tissue morphogenesis. Cell adhesion to the ECM is primarily mediated by the integrin family of receptors. The receptors that are recruited to the surface are reinforced by structural and signaling proteins at the adhesive sites forming focal adhesions that connect the cytoskeleton to further stabilize the adhesions. The functional roles of these focal adhesions extend beyond stabilizing adhesions and transduce mechanical signals at the …

Differential Effects Of Isoflurane And Propofol Anesthesia On Neurogenesis In Young And Aged Rats, Diana Marcela Erasso

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Worldwide, millions of young and elderly patients receive procedures that could not be performed without the use of anesthetics. Unfortunately, emerging animal and human data suggest an association between exposure to general anesthesia and impairment of cognitive function in pediatric and geriatric patients. Recent laboratory data have shown that general anesthetics are potentially damaging to the developing and aging brain. However, the mechanism by which this happens is still unknown. General anesthetics affect learning and memory, a brain function involving neural plasticity. An important form of neural plasticity receiving attention is postnatal neurogenesis. This process is highly regulated and involved …

The Clash Of Heritage And Development On The Island Of Roatã¡N, Honduras, Alejandro J. Figueroa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines the spatial relationship between archaeological sites on the island of Roatán, Honduras and their topographical and biophysical location, as well as how these relationships are and continue to be impacted by the island's current socioeconomic context. Despite several studies and explorations conducted on the island's history, archaeology, and geography since the early twentieth century, little is known of its place and role within the larger cultural and socioeconomic spheres of interaction in this region: Mesoamerica and the Intermediate Area. Previous archaeological research has shown that hilltops on Roatán were chosen in prehispanic times for the location …

Actualizing Empowerment: Developing A Framework For Partnering With Families In System Level Service Planning And Delivery, Kathleen Ferreira

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The engagement of families of children and adolescents with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) as full partners in individual treatment, organizational, and system level decision making has become an important focus for systems of care (SOCs) serving youth with emotional and behavioral challenges. SOCs typically include cross-agency partnerships with mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, and education for the purpose of providing services and supports for youth with SED who have multi-agency needs. Implementation of a federal mandate requiring family driven care (FDC) within systems of care funded through the Children's Mental Health Initiative (CMHI) has revealed that most system of …

In Situ Biofiltration Of Dissolved Organic Carbon In Reverse Osmosis Membrane Filtration, Russell Rosario Ferlita

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biofouling, or the formation of biofilm on membrane surfaces, can decrease the performance (decreased flux and/or increased operating pressure) of a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system in a water treatment plant. However, biofilms have been used in water treatment systems to remove organic carbon from water via biofilters and successfully reduce biofilm growth downstream. This research investigates the possibility that the heterotrophic biofilm present on membrane surfaces removes nutrients from the treatment water, thereby making it nutrient deprived as it travels along the treatment train. This may potentially be exploited as an in situ biofilter to actively remove dissolved organic …

Cactus Mucilage-Assisted Heavy Metal Separation: Design And Implementation, Dawn Iona Fox

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural contamination of groundwater by arsenic (As) has become a critical public health threat in many parts of the world. The well-known regions associated with As contamination of groundwater are Bangladesh and West Bengal, India where approximately 100 million people are exposed to high levels of arsenic by drinking arsenic-contaminated groundwater and about 35 million are already affected. Long-term drinking of arsenic-contaminated water leads to arsenicosis, which is characterized by cancers of the skin, organ disease and certain other types of cancer. Affected developing communities are at higher risk because they may not have access to conventional water treatment facilities. …

Feasibility Of Wastewater Reuse For Fish Production In Small Communities In A Developing World Setting, Joshua James Girard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eradicating poverty, malnutrition, and the burden of disease have been included as three of the major issues facing the world. The United Nation member countries, having set forth the Millennium Development Goals, have committed themselves to solving these problems. Two major factors which affect solutions to these problems are increasing water stress and implementing improved sanitation. Integration of tilapia aquaculture and reuse of wastewater has been suggested as a solution which addresses both of these factors. The objective of this study is to examine the feasibility, and explore the benefits and drawbacks, to implementing small community wastewater fed (WWF) aquaculture …

Hiv Education For Youth In Transition To Adulthood, Peter Eugene Gamache

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the role of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) stigma in program implementation. A case study design comprising qualitative methods provided in-depth, context-sensitive comparisons of adult educator (n = 8) and youth (n = 67) perspectives among programs that provide HIV services and those that provide risk reduction services. Nearly half of the youth participants were male, 42% were female, and 6% identified as transgender. Two thirds of participants were Black or African American, one quarter of participants were Hispanic or Latino, and the average participant age was 19. Although program personnel from all youth service programs in this …

A Meta-Analysis Of Cultural Competence Education In Professional Nurses And Nursing Students, Ruth Wilmer Gallagher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cultural competence learning interventions have been suggested to positively improve knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in both professional nurses and nursing students. A meta-analysis was used to examine the effectiveness of learning interventions designed to increase the cultural competence in professional nurses and nursing students. This is the first known meta-analysis of studies on cultural competence learning interventions in professional nurses and nursing students.

The meta-analysis was done using 13 research studies on cultural competence educational interventions from 1999 to 2010 that were published peer-reviewed literature found in electronic databases. Analyses were computed using a fixed-effect model and effect size data …

Synthesis Of Small Molecule Inhibitors Of Janus Kinase 2, Phosphodiesterase Iv, Gabaa And Nmda Receptors: Investigation Of Mcmurry, Mannich And Chemoenzymatic Strategies, Meghanath Gali

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stilbenoids possess a wide range of biological properties such as, anticancer, antiplatelet aggregation, antiestrogenic, antibacterial, antifungal and antiatherogenic, etc. Owing to these therapeutic values, a great deal of attention attracted in the synthesis of derivatives of stilbenes. During the course of the study, G6 a novel stilbenoid was discovered, through high throughput screening, to be a potent inhibitor of mutated JAK2-V617F. The mutated JAK2 variant has been implicated in various myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs) including polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF) has been targeted by therapeutics. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis of analogs of the stilbenoid G6 …

Apparent Total Evaporative Resistance Values From Human Trials Over A Range Of Heat Stress Levels, Brian Grace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clothing can influence heat stress depending on the design and its ability to act as a barrier. The progressive heat stress protocol permitted the collection of data to empirically estimate the apparent total evaporative resistance (R_e,T,a). Five different clothing ensembles were evaluated, which included work clothes, cotton coveralls, and three limited-use protective clothing ensembles including a pthesis-barrier ensemble, (Tyvek^® 1424), water-barrier, vapor-permeable ensemble (NexGen^® LS 417), and a vapor-barrier ensemble (Tychem QC^®). The study design called for three metabolic level's: low, moderate, and high (L, M, & H) and three heat stages: compensable, transitional, …

Microbial Ecology And Functional Genomics Of Deep-Water Coral-Associated Microbes, Julia Parker Galkiewicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lophelia pertusa is a cosmopolitan cold-water coral, often found in aphotic waters (>200m). Aggregations of L. pertusa (reefs) provide important habitat to many invertebrate and fish species and act as biodiversity hotspots in the deep sea. The health and diversity of these reefs is of vital importance to deep-sea ecosystems, and the microbial consortia associated with L. pertusa form the most basic ecological level. Deciphering the diversity and function of these microbes provides insight into the roles they play in maintaining reef health. This dissertation takes microbiological techniques that are used in shallow-water coral microbial research and applies them …

Cataloguing Diseases And Pests In Captive Corals, Adrienne George

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stony corals (Order Scleractinia) are susceptible to a variety of diseases, which can occur from abiotic or biotic factors, or a combination of both. Public aquaria provide opportunities to study coral disease. Because coral mucus is the first line of defense against disease, the Biolog EcoplateTM is a useful tool to detect differences in microbial assemblages in the surface mucopolysaccharide (mucus) layer when comparing healthy and diseased corals. Histological examination is essential to document structural changes in coral tissue in response to diseases. This study identifies and characterizes diseases in captive corals through visual recognition, characterization of carbon utilization by …

The Role Of Hiv-1 Proteins In Alzheimer's Disease Pathology, Brian Nelson Giunta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prevalence of HIV-associated cognitive impairment is rising, the worst form of which is HIV-associated dementia (HAD). The disease is fuiled by a chronic innate type pro-inflammatory response in the brain which is highly dependent upon the activation of microglia. We first created an in vitro model of HAD composed of cultured microglial cells synergistically activated by the addition of IFN-gamma and the HIV-1 coat glycoprotein, gp120. This activation, as measured by TNF-alpha and NO release, is synergistically attenuated through the alpha7nAChR and p44/42 MAPK system by pretreatment with nicotine, and the cholinesterase inhibitor, galantamine. As these medications have been FDA …

From Dna To Protein: A Study Of Genomic Instability Candidate Genes During Zebrafish Development, Kristine Griffett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The zebrafish, Danio rerio, is a type of freshwater minnow often used to model human diseases including cancer, anxiety and aging diseases. The overall biology of zebrafish is strikingly similar to that of humans, allowing these fish to be used for drug discovery and toxicology studies for preclinical trials. In this study, zebrafish embryos were used to identify and characterize several candidate genes within two known regions of genomic instability on chromosome 18 and chromosome 4. This fish that were used in this study had been previously classified as genomic instability (gin) mutants due to increased incidence of somatic mutation …

Evaluating Lethal And Sub-Lethal Effects Of Catch-And-Release Angling In Florida's Central Gulf Coast Recreational Atlantic Tarpon (Megalops Atlanticus) Fishery, Kathryn Yvonne Guindon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Atlantic tarpon are sought after because of their fighting ability on various tackle and support a popular, lucrative and predominantly catch-and-release recreational fishery in Florida. They are not commercially harvested or consumed by the general public, therefore assessing effects of catch-and-release angling on tarpon survival is critical to a sustainable fishery. Tarpon caught on artificial breakaway jig and traditional live bait fishing charters in Boca Grande Pass (n=42) and trips from the recreational fishery of Tampa Bay (n=40) were tagged with ultrasonic transmitters and tracked up to 6 hours immediately following release to estimate post-release mortality. Of the 82 tagged …

Relative Abundance And Spatial Distribution Of Lepomid Sunfishes In The Peace River, Justin Henry Heller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines spatially continuous sampling data in order to investigate patterns of abundance and distribution of three recreationally important sunfish species (bluegill, redear, and spotted sunfish) along the main-stem of the Peace River, a large softwater river located in southwest Florida. A total of 467 electrofishing transects were sampled biannually from spring 2008 to spring 2010. Sampling sites ranged from the headwaters of the Peace River in Polk County, FL to the oligohaline waters located in Charlotte County, FL. All fish were collected with boat mounted electrofishing gear, and aquatic habitat and physiochemical water quality measurements were recorded at …