Importance of storm events in controlling ecosystem structure and function in a Florida gulf coast estuary

From 8/95 to 2/01, we investigated the ecological effects of intra- and inter-annual variability in freshwater flow through Taylor Creek in southeastern Everglades National Park. Continuous monitoring and intensive sampling studies overlapped with an array of pulsed weather events that impacted physical, chemical, and biological attributes of this region. We quantified the effects of three events representing a range of characteristics (duration, amount of precipitation, storm intensity, wind direction) on the hydraulic connectivity, nutrient and sediment dynamics, and vegetation structure of the SE Everglades estuarine ecotone. These events included a strong winter storm in November 1996, Tropical Storm Harvey in September 1999, and Hurricane Irene in October 1999. Continuous hydrologic and daily water sample data were used to examine the effects of these events on the physical forcing and quality of water in Taylor Creek. A high resolution, flow-through sampling and mapping approach was used to characterize water quality in the adjacent bay. To understand the effects of these events on vegetation communities, we measured mangrove litter production and estimated seagrass cover in the bay at monthly intervals. We also quantified sediment deposition associated with Hurricane Irene's flood surge along the Buttonwood Ridge. These three events resulted in dramatic changes in surface water movement and chemistry in Taylor Creek and adjacent regions of Florida Bay as well as increased mangrove litterfall and flood surge scouring of seagrass beds. Up to 5 cm of bay-derived mud was deposited along the ridge adjacent to the creek in this single pulsed event. These short-term events can account for a substantial proportion of the annual flux of freshwater and materials between the mangrove zone and Florida Bay. Our findings shed light on the capacity of these storm events, especially when in succession, to have far reaching and long lasting effects on coastal ecosystems such as the estuarine ecotone of the SE Everglades.

Essays on city size distribution and real estate bubbles

This is a dissertation about urban systems; within this broad subject I tackle three issues, one that focuses on an observed inter-city relationship and two that focus on an intra-city phenomenon. In Chapter II I adapt a model of random emergence of economic opportunities from the firm growth literature to the urban dynamics situation and present several predictions for urban system dynamics. One of these predictions is that the older the city the larger and more diversified it is going to be on average, which I proceed to verify empirically using two distinct datasets. In Chapter III I analyze the Residential Real Estate Bubble that took place in Miami-Dade County from 1999 to 2006. I adopt a Spatial-Economic model developed for the Paris Bubble episode of 1984–1993 and formulate an innovative test of the results in terms of speculative intensity on the basis of proxies of investor activity available in my dataset. My results support the idea that the best or more expensive areas are also where the greatest speculative activity takes place and where the rapid increase in prices begins. The most significant departure from previous studies that emerges in my results is the absence of a wider gap between high priced areas and low priced areas in the peak year. I develop a measure of dispersion in value among areas and contrast the Miami-Dade and Paris episodes. In Chapter IV I analyze the impact on tax equity of a Florida tax-limiting legislation known as Save Our Homes. I first compare homesteaded and non-homesteaded properties, and second, look within the subset of homesteaded properties. I find that non-homesteaded properties increase their share of taxes paid relative to homesteaded properties during an up market, but that this is reversed during a down market. For the subset of homesteaded properties I find that the impact on tax equity of SOH will depend on differential growth rates among higher and lower valued homes, but during times of rapid home price appreciation, in a scenario of no differential growth rates in property values, SOH increases progressivity relative to the prior system.

Risk factors and associations for hepatitis C infection among Hispanic/Latino intravenous drug users in Miami-Dade County, Florida

Hepatitis C infection (HCV) continues to disproportionately affect Hispanics/Latinos in the United States. Hispanic/Latino intravenous drug users (IDUs), because of their risky injection and sexual behaviors, are prone to HCV infection and rapid transmission of the virus to others via several routes. With a prevalence rate of approximately 75% among IDUs, it is imperative that transmission of HCV be prevented in this population. This study aims to examine the associations between demographic, injection and sexual risk factors to HCV infection in a group Hispanic/Latino IDUs in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Preliminary unadjusted results in this sample reveal that age (OR=4.592, p=0.004), weekly injection (OR=5.171, p=0.000), daily injection frequency (OR=3.856, p=0.000) and use of a dirty needle (OR=2.320, p= 0.006) were all significantly associated with HCV infection. Being born outside the U.S. was significantly negatively associated with HCV infection (OR=0.349, p=0.004). Additionally, having two or more sex partners in the past three months (OR=0.472, p=0.014) was negatively associated with HCV infection. After adjusting for all other variables, older age (AOR=7.470, p=0.006), weekly injection (AOR=3.238, p=0.007) and daily injection frequency (AOR=2.625, p=0.010) were all significantly associated with HCV infection. Being born outside the U.S. (AOR=0.369, p=0.019) was a significant protective factor for HCV infection, along with having two or more sex partners in the past three months (AOR=0.481, p=0.037). When analyzing the significant variables in a backward regression model, having 2 or more sex partners in the past three months was not significant at the p

Best Management Practices in Green Lodging Defined and Explained

Best management practices in green lodging are sustainable or “green” business strategies designed to enhance the lodging product from the perspective of owners, operators and guests. For guests, these practices should enhance their experience while for owners and operators, generate positive returns on investments. Best management practices in green lodging typically starts with a clear understanding of each lodging firm’s role in society, its impact on the environment and strategies developed to mitigate negative environmental externalities generated from the production of lodging goods and services. Negative externalities of hotel operations manifest themselves in energy and water usage, waste generation and air pollution. Hence, best management practices in green lodging are dynamic, cost effective, innovative, stakeholder driven and environmentally sound technical and behavioral solutions that attempt to ameliorate or eliminate the negative environmental externalities associated with lodging operations, while simultaneously generate positive returns on green investments. Thus, best management practices in green lodging should reduce lodging firms’ operating costs, increase guest satisfaction, reduce or eliminate the negative environmental impacts associated with hotel operations while simultaneously enhance business operations.

Children with special health care needs: Comparison of the effects of home care setting, prescribed pediatric extended care setting, and long-term care setting on child and family health outcomes and health care service use

Technological advances during the past 30 years have dramatically improved survival rates for children with life-threatening conditions (preterm births, congenital anomalies, disease, or injury) resulting in children with special health care needs (CSHCN), children who have or are at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition and who require health and related services beyond that required by children generally. There are approximately 10.2 million of these children in the United States or one in five households with a child with special health care needs. Care for these children is limited to home care, medical day care (Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care; P-PEC) or a long term care (LTC) facility. There is very limited research examining health outcomes of CSHCN and their families. The purpose of this research was to compare the effects of home care settings, P-PEC settings, and LTC settings on child health and functioning, family health and function, and health care service use of families with CSHCN. Eighty four CSHCN ages 2 to 21 years having a medically fragile or complex medical condition that required continual monitoring were enrolled with their parents/guardians. Interviews were conducted monthly for five months using the PedsQL™ Generic Core Module for child health and functioning, PedsQL™ Family Impact Module for family health and functioning, and Access to Care from the NS-CSHCN survey for health care services. Descriptive statistics, chi square, and ANCOVA were conducted to determine differences across care settings. Children in the P-PEC settings had a highest health care quality of life (HRQL) overall including physical and psychosocial functioning. Parents/guardians with CSHCN in LTC had the highest HRQL including having time and energy for a social life and employment. Parents/guardians with CSHCN in home care settings had the poorest HRQL including physical and psychosocial functioning with cognitive difficulties, difficulties with worry, communication, and daily activities. They had the fewest hours of employment and the most hours providing direct care for their children. Overall health care service use was the same across the care settings.

Climate Change and the Color Line

Climate change is estimated to be responsible for 400,000 deaths per year, mostly because of hunger and communicable diseases affecting children in the Global South. Using the sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois, I attempt to demonstrate how and why climate change occurs along the color line. I conclude by arguing why it is important to think about climate change as a human rights issue.

Group cognitive -behavioral therapy for heterogeneous anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: A multiple baseline study

This study investigated the efficacy of Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (GCBT) in the treatment of heterogeneous anxiety disorders in children. A partially nonconcurrent multiple baseline across groups design was used to assess the effects of the treatment on 12 clinically referred children and adolescents between 6 and 16 years of age who met DSM-IV criteria for an anxiety disorder. Targeted diagnoses included Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Simple Phobia, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, with three of the children also presenting with school refusal behavior. Duration of baseline for each of the three groups varied and ran for one, two, or three weeks. Dependent measures included diagnostic status, child and parent-completed reports, and daily child and parent ratings of child anxiety severity. Results indicated that GCBT was efficacious in reducing anxious symptoms in children and adolescents treated in diagnostically heterogeneous groups, and that gains were generally maintained at 6 and 12 month follow-ups. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications for the efficient treatment of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. ^

Putting the Green in Bureaucracy: Practices of Quantification and Valuation in Environmental Regulation

While researchers have devoted considerable attention to exploring the ways that intentional environmental reregulation creates new avenues for capital accumulation (e.g. Smith, 2007; Castree, 2008), it remains somewhat unclear how the less grandiose day-to-day work of environmental regulators may also help create new sources of ecological value. Through an ethnographic study of environmental regulators tasked with enforcing key environmental laws, I shed light on the subtle ways that rule interpretation and scientific practice structure the frames, models, and methodologies regulators use to enact “best professional judgments” about ecological systems, and ultimately to assign particular values to nature. I also show the ways that non-human nature pushes back against such assessments, which in combination with the interpretive work of environmental regulation, opens spaces of conflict in at least two arenas: one focused on modes of quantification, where actors contend between economistic, ecological, statutory, and moral frames for making value assessments; and one focused on presentations of value, where actors contend between value assessments that best represent their self-defined interests. The ‘value settlements’ environmental regulators reach in these contested spaces allow processes of commensuration to proceed, and ultimately make nature legible for capitalization and exchange. Accounting for the ways that these basic regulatory practice help create ecological value is essential for creating a fuller picture of the ways capital and natural capital relate.

Use of Homeostatic Model Assessment Indexes for the Identification of Metabolic Syndrome and Insulin Resistance among Cuban-Americans: A Cross Sectional Study

Aim: to determine cut off points for The Homeostatic Model Assessment Index 1 and 2 (HOMA-1 and HOMA-2) for identifying insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome among a Cuban-American population. Study Design: Cross sectional. Place and Duration of Study: Florida International University, Robert Stempel School of Public Health and Social Work, Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Miami, FL from July 2010 to December 2011. Methodology: Subjects without diabetes residing in South Florida were enrolled (N=146, aged 37 to 83 years). The HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR 90th percentile in the healthy group (n=75) was used as the cut-off point for insulin resistance. A ROC curve was constructed to determine the cut-off point for metabolic syndrome. Results: HOMA1-IR was associated with BMI, central obesity, and triglycerides (P3.95 and >2.20 and for metabolic syndrome were >2.98 (63.4% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity) and >1.55 (60.6% sensitivity and 66.7% specificity), respectively. Conclusion: HOMA cut-off points may be used as a screening tool to identify insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome among Cuban-Americans living in South Florida.

The effect of a reform on a school organizational culture after receiving a failing Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test rating

The purpose of this research was to explore the effects of a reform that took place in an elementary school during 2000/2001 as a result of a failure rating on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test on the structure and the personnel of the organization. The exploration took place over a period of 10 months starting in August 2000 until June 2001. It focused on the effect of the failure rating on the: (a) structure and operation of the school; (b) morale, beliefs, behaviors, and daily lives of teachers and the principal; and (c) the effect of the reform effort on the leadership style of the principal, whether she became a transactional or a transformative leader. The researcher assumed the role of a participant observer. Data sources were her personal recollections of major events that took place during the year of the reform, interviews, observations, and school documents. The sample included 15 teachers present during the time of the reform. Ten taught second through fifth grade. The remaining five participants were the music teacher, the counselor, and the writing, reading and technology specialists. Together they represented the instructional team or represented special education areas. The findings indicated that the reform effort had an effect on the structure and the operation of the school. The changes included reorganization of the physical set up, changes in curriculum and instruction, changes in the means of communication among the staff, and the addition of new staff members including an official agent of change. The reform had a greater effect on the daily lives of teachers and their morale than on their beliefs and behaviors. Teachers reported that during the effort their daily lives were stressful and their morale very low due to the enormous expectations that they had to meet. On the other hand, the reform effort had a positive effect on the daily life, morale, beliefs, and behaviors of the principal. It energized her. She spoke positively about the change. She functioned as an effective, positive, resilient transactional leader who did what was necessary in order to enable the teachers to cope with the complex situation.

Produção de sentidos sobre a militância política de mulheres vinculadas ao MST/RN

Studies show that the theme of gender relations within the MST (Rural Landless Workers Movement) has incorporated some feminist guidelines discussions in the set of its speeches and daily practices. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the production of meanings about the political militancy of women linked to MST in Rio Grande do Norte. The specific objectives sought to identify the continuities and ruptures related to the women's role in the family of the militant women and to investigate the militant’s discursive positioning about their work. The study is configured as a qualitative research, which six women militants linked to the MST at the RN participated. These women occupy the coordination and leadership functions in the movement. We will use a semi-structured interview, initially guided by triggering questions that included, among others, the dimensions: political militancy, family and work as an access tool to the phenomenon. The reports were analyzed from an initial categorization, based on the guiding principles: militancy, family and work, and were based on theoretical perspective of studies about the production of meaning, discursive practices, social psychology and gender studies. The meanings of militancy point to: contribution, hope, recognition, transformation, awareness and fight. The results show that there is always a positivation speech of life, achievements of a formation and about a new place as a woman at stake. These results come justified by the collective investment of struggle, not only for the access to land, but for social rights achievements too. Finally, the MST stands with a discursive agency that contributes to produce in these women not only the way of political participation: but a way to be exercised with collective subjects and their rights.

Produção de sentidos sobre a militância política de mulheres vinculadas ao MST/RN

Studies show that the theme of gender relations within the MST (Rural Landless Workers Movement) has incorporated some feminist guidelines discussions in the set of its speeches and daily practices. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the production of meanings about the political militancy of women linked to MST in Rio Grande do Norte. The specific objectives sought to identify the continuities and ruptures related to the women's role in the family of the militant women and to investigate the militant’s discursive positioning about their work. The study is configured as a qualitative research, which six women militants linked to the MST at the RN participated. These women occupy the coordination and leadership functions in the movement. We will use a semi-structured interview, initially guided by triggering questions that included, among others, the dimensions: political militancy, family and work as an access tool to the phenomenon. The reports were analyzed from an initial categorization, based on the guiding principles: militancy, family and work, and were based on theoretical perspective of studies about the production of meaning, discursive practices, social psychology and gender studies. The meanings of militancy point to: contribution, hope, recognition, transformation, awareness and fight. The results show that there is always a positivation speech of life, achievements of a formation and about a new place as a woman at stake. These results come justified by the collective investment of struggle, not only for the access to land, but for social rights achievements too. Finally, the MST stands with a discursive agency that contributes to produce in these women not only the way of political participation: but a way to be exercised with collective subjects and their rights.

The transition movement and food sovereignty: from local resilience to global engagement in food system transformation

The emergence of grassroots social movements variously preoccupied with a range of external threats, such as diminishing supplies of fossil energy or climate change, has led to increased interest in the production of local food. Drawing upon the notion of cognitive praxis, this article utilises transition as a trajectory guided by an overarching cosmology that brings together a broad social movement seeking a more resilient future. This ‘grand narrative’ is reinforced by ‘transition movement intellectuals’ who serve to shape an agenda of local preparedness in the face of uncertainty, rather than structural analysis of the global system. In this context, growing and producing food offers important multi-functional synergies by reconnecting people to place and its ecological endowments and serves to provide a vital element in civic mobilisation. Yet, local food could also become a means to build international solidarity in defence of food sovereignty and establish a global coalition opposed to the corporate agri-food agenda of biotechnologies, land grabbing and nutritional impoverishment.

Transcriptomic Analysis of the Host Response and Innate Resilience to Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Infection in Humans.

BACKGROUND: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a globally prevalent cause of diarrhea. Though usually self-limited, it can be severe and debilitating. Little is known about the host transcriptional response to infection. We report the first gene expression analysis of the human host response to experimental challenge with ETEC. METHODS: We challenged 30 healthy adults with an unattenuated ETEC strain, and collected serial blood samples shortly after inoculation and daily for 8 days. We performed gene expression analysis on whole peripheral blood RNA samples from subjects in whom severe symptoms developed (n = 6) and a subset of those who remained asymptomatic (n = 6) despite shedding. RESULTS: Compared with baseline, symptomatic subjects demonstrated significantly different expression of 406 genes highlighting increased immune response and decreased protein synthesis. Compared with asymptomatic subjects, symptomatic subjects differentially expressed 254 genes primarily associated with immune response. This comparison also revealed 29 genes differentially expressed between groups at baseline, suggesting innate resilience to infection. Drug repositioning analysis identified several drug classes with potential utility in augmenting immune response or mitigating symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: There are statistically significant and biologically plausible differences in host gene expression induced by ETEC infection. Differential baseline expression of some genes may indicate resilience to infection.

A philosophy of performance, politics and composition

This thesis discusses socio-political issues worldwide through philosophical approaches to performance, politics and composition. My research also discuss sound decisions which I regard to be simultaneously an outlet for personal expression, as well as a practical tool to inspire a socio-political change in society. Although the latter is paramount to the methodology of the project, the sound cannot be regarded in isolation as a “political composition”. It can only become truly functional in a political sense through interaction with other art forms, within the context of a specific place and time. My portfolio for this project is of two socio-political projects which are my chief concern. The first project concerns the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I named this project PATH. PATH aims to foster and expand peaceful thought between Jewish and Palestinian civilians in Israel-Palestine. Through performance art, PATH spreads a message of acceptance, unity and brotherhood between our peoples. Above all, PATH demands and end to intolerance, hatred and violence among all the inhabitants of the State of Israel. The second project concerns women’s rights globally. I have realised that although we have come a long way in our struggle for rights for women, great challenges remain. There is a need to unite women and men against a form of oppression that discriminates against 50% of the world’s population. I called this project, For Utopia.