Brown stink bug, Euschistus servus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), is a recently re-emerged pest of cotton in Arizona. It has been present in southwestern desert-grown cotton since at least the early 1900’s, but dropped from primary pest status in the latter half of the twentieth century. Farmers and pest managers did not perceive it as a primary or economic pest until 2011, when elevated numbers of brown stink bugs were reported in isolated valleys of Arizona and southeastern California. Reports increased and became more widespread in the following years. In response to increased abundance of brown stink bug and corresponding cotton boll injury, research was needed to provide information to cotton farmers. First, pest managers needed information on which factors affect the susceptibility of cotton bolls to stink bug feeding (chapter 1). Young bolls are most vulnerable to stink bug injury, and injury is sustained in the first four days of feeding. In addition, research was needed to determine the effects of currently available brown stink bug chemical controls on the broader integrated pest management system in Arizona cotton (chapter 2). Current chemical control options disrupt natural enemy communities, which results in outbreaks and resurgences of other cotton pests. The negative outcomes and additional costs outweigh the benefits of brown stink bug management.

Understanding the patterns and relationships between land surface productivity and the climatic condition is essential to predict the impact of climate change. This study aims to understand spatial temporal variability and relationships of land surface productivity using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and drought indices, mainly Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standard Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI) across four ecoregions: Mojave, Sonoran, Apache Highlands and Chihuahua of the Southwest United States. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and land cover data, and Parameter Regression on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) precipitation and temperature data were used for analysis. Using Mann-Kendall, I calculated the trends in annual and seasonal NDVI, SPI and SPEI datasets. I used the Pearson Correlation Coefficients to examine the response of integrated and monthly NDVI values to SPI and SPEI values. The positive and negative trends were found during the annual and monsoon seasons whereas only negative trends were found during the spring season for NDVI, SPI and SPEI values. The relationship between NDVI and coincident and antecedent SPEI values changed significantly by area and season for each of the ecoregions across the east-west seasonal precipitation gradient.

A Namib Desert soil hypolith metagenomic dataset was screened, in silico, for novel acetyl xylan esterase (AcXE) - encoding genes. AcXEs hydrolyse ester bonds to liberate acetic acid in acetylated polymeric xylan and xylooligosaccharides during bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass for sustainable biofuel production. One of the identified genes (NaMet1) was synthesized, cloned and expressed to produce a ~36 kDa protein. This protein, NaM1, was confirmed to be functional and was purified and characterized. NaM1, a carbohydrate esterase (CE) 7 enzyme, was optimally active on para-nitrophenol acetate at pH 8.5 and 30 oC, and remained active in up to 5 M NaCl and 65% DMSO. The specific activity and catalytic efficiency were 488.9 Umg-1 and 3.26x106 M-1s-1, respectively. NaM1 deacetylated para-nitrophenol acetate and butyrate, 7-aminocephalosporanic acid and acetylated xylan. Most investigations of CE7 esterases have been carried out using structural information from thermostable members of this family and little is known about thermolabile members. A 2.03 Å crystal structure of native NaM1, the first CE structure of metagenomic origin to be submitted to the Protein data bank, was solved. The structure was compared with those of thermostable CE7 enzymes and used to study the thermal stability determinants of this enzyme family. This comparison showed strong structural conservation between both enzyme types and suggested that differences in several key residues, as well as, packing within the core, were responsible for thermal stability. Directed evolution (DE) of NaM1 yielded thermostable variants, including a variant with 10oC improved stability. Analyses of the kinetic and putative structural characteristics of selected variants in comparison with those of the wild-type provided insights to the role of residues influencing the thermal stability, substrate specificity and activity of NaM1. A single substitution was found to expand acyl moiety specificity and improve both thermal stability and activity of NaM1. Knowledge of key residues identified during NaM1 DE is useful for the future engineering of CE7 and ?/? hydrolase enzymes in order to improve catalytic turnover, substrate specificity and thermal stability. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Genetics / PhD / Unrestricted

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In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls names two conditions as necessary and sufficient for an agent to have self-respect. I argue that Rawls’s two conditions constitute an inadequate understanding of self-respect. Contrary to Rawls, I argue that self-respect requires moral desert, and that self-respect is a distinct concept from self-esteem.

Adequate access to affordable, healthy food has long been a public health concern and has become a more pressing societal issue following the Great Recession and rising incidents of diet-related diseases. In response, research and government efforts have largely focused on identifying disadvantaged areas with poor food access and formulating policies to improve accessibility. However, the approaches that have been widely relied upon by researchers and practitioners for food access assessment are severely flawed, which may lead to inconsistent research findings or neglect of the needs of under-served/un-served neighborhoods. This dissertation identifies three important aspects of food access for improvement: the appropriate scale/neighborhoods for analysis, the use of food outlets as a proxy for affordable, healthy food; and the assessment method. In particular, three studies are conducted to: (1) examine how varying spatial scales and aggregation methods affect accessibility assessments; (2) explore the role of independent grocers, which have been neglected in previous food access studies as elements of the food landscape that may change the perception of food deserts; and (3) investigate how individual-level food access patterns compare to the widely used, area-based neighborhood measures of expected accessibility. While the dissertation discusses and addresses theoretical challenges in food access, the empirical studies conducted in the Tucson, Arizona metropolitan area contribute to a better understanding of the real-world complexity of food access. The results shed light on some predicaments identified in recent studies and have important policy implications for how best to efficiently and effectively design strategies and initiatives to enhance food-provision access.

VS is a poetic exercise in rhyme and rhythm. An exercise attempting to camouflage ideas in humor, in song, in lyrical overtures, and in social media pop culture lingo to highlight the damaging effects technology and social media have on the human relationship with the earth. VS is a mirror, is an attempt to selfie the world we have lost touch with by contemplating where our role as caretakers for our planet lies. Through varying poetic forms, VS displays and critiques the limited perspective forced upon us when we socialize and experience life solely through phones and screens. In this manuscript, the speaker is fluid and mainly seen in the first person plural, or the collective, “we.” This voice includes the average media-driven American, as well as one who is considering how social media impacts their current lifestyles. In VS, the speaker represents various voices of faceless social media users who are separated from the physical world by the screens themselves and by digital avatars disguising further what is real. And yet, the speaker also represents a voiceless natural world—such as if it had the ability to forbid our modern ways of life from diminishing the world’s natural resources and curb further global pollution—while always questioning how these ways of life are being preserved on the physical land we live on and alongside.

A SECOND UNIVERSE is a memoir-in-essays that traces the author’s coming of age and her pursuit of self-discovery, belonging, and healing in all its forms. The book opens in the past, diving into the lives of the author’s parents before she was born and shedding light on the many obstacles they overcame to bring her earth-side. Set against the backdrop of the Southern Utah deserts and the clarity the author finds in the natural world, these essays wind through the author’s different childhood homes, down the lonely and desolate road of a sister’s addiction, and into the darkness that comes as she braces for her father’s impending blindness. Similar to Brenda Miller’s LISTENING AGAINST THE STONE, this collection explores the inherent desire for human connection and spiritual insight that we search for in the places we live, the people we love, and the nature that surrounds us.

Malgré sa récente remise en lumière, le cinéma muet est toujours menacé de disparition, du fait notamment de la décomposition des supports nitrate avec le temps. On estime que 80 pour cent de la production cinématographique mondiale de 1895 à 1929 serait de nos jours perdue, rendant d’autant plus cruciale la restauration des films muets subsistants. Malheureusement, un siècle après, ces films se présentent souvent dans des versions incomplètes et parfois différentes de celles d’origine. Ce travail de recherche s’inscrit dans ce cadre et démontre plus spécifiquement l’apport fondamental des documents d’archives non-film d’époque dans les processus de restauration de films muets. Ces documents, qui constituent désormais les seules sources attestant de la forme d’origine et complète de ces œuvres, permettent notamment, par comparaison avec les films incomplets, l’identification des versions conservées et la reconstruction des trames narratives. Cette réflexion théorique sur les principes directeurs de la restauration de films [I] est ensuite mise en pratique au travers de notre analyse des éléments de restauration du fonds d’archives non-film de la société de production américaine Triangle Film Corporation (1915-1919) conservés par la Cinémathèque française [II] puis, grâce à l’exploitation de ces éléments, au travers de notre contribution aux restaurations des versions françaises du western The Desert Man (La Cité du désespoir, William S. Hart, 1917) et du drame historique The Despoiler (Châtiment, Reginald Barker, 1915) [III] ; deux films Triangle jusqu’alors considérés comme perdus qui constituent les seuls éléments filmiques localisés à ce jour dans le monde / Despite its recent re-lighting, silent cinema is still threatened by disappearance, notably because of nitrate film decomposition over time. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the world cinema production from 1895 to 1929 is currently lost, which makes silent film restoration even more crucial for those that still exist. Unfortunately, a century later, those films often remain in incomplete versions, sometimes even different from the original ones. This research work falls within this scope and specifically demonstrates the essential input of non-film archival documents of the time in silent film restoration processes. Those documents from now on represent the only sources attesting the original and complete form of those films. They notably allow, by comparing them with the incomplete films, both the identification of the preserved versions and the reconstruction of the narrative spine. This theoretical reflection on film restoration guiding principles [I] is then put into practice first through our examination of the restoration elements of the non-film archive collection of the American production company Triangle Film Corporation (1915-1919) preserved by the Cinémathèque française [II] then, based on the exploitation of these elements, through our contribution to the restorations of the French versions of the western The Desert Man (La Cité du désespoir, William S. Hart, 1917) and the historical drama The Despoiler (Châtiment, Reginald Barker, 1915) [III] ; two Triangle films so far presumed lost that constitute the only film elements located in the world until now.

Because of the expense associated with hospital admissions, the use of observation status has grown. One of the most consistently measured outcomes in observation is the patient length of stay (LOS). Research supports the positive impact that nurse practitioners (NP) have on LOS when added to other service lines that could be applied to observation. Banner Desert Medical Center (BDMC) is currently attempting to decrease their observation LOS. Adding acute care nurse practitioners (ACNP) to the care delivery model is a potential intervention. The purpose of this project was to develop an executive summary to inform staff of current evidence that supports the addition of ACNPs to observation. Then, via a survey, the project aimed to determine the level of staff support by identifying the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM) Stage of Change and to recommend appropriate stage-matched interventions for staff based on TTM processes of change. The 10 Likert scale survey questions were adapted from two validated TTM surveys. The final question asked for the pros and cons of the intervention to determine the Decisional Balance (DB). The registered nurse (RN) cohort demonstrated consistently strong support for the proposed intervention with an average mean response of 6.57 on affirmative questions and a correspondingly low average mean of 2.2 on negative questions. When compared to the RN cohort, the physician cohort had lower mean responses with an average of 4.29 on every affirmative, a higher average mean response of 3.85 on the negatively worded questions. The DB for RNs was 19 pros to two cons. The DB for physicians was eight cons to three pros. These finding reflect that nurses are in the Preparation Stage of Change and are ready to move forward with adding ACNPs. An appropriate stage-matched intervention for registered nurses would be the development of change teams. In contrast, the physician cohort is in the Precontemplation stage and is not ready to proceed with adding ACNPs. Appropriate stage-matched interventions for physicians would include facilitating consciousness-raising activities such as an open forum to communicating information about the proposed change and to explore concerns and questions regarding the intervention.