The term "exonerated"‖refers to a legal acquittal of a former conviction due to the introduction of new evidence. Since 1989, the number of legal xonerations has increased dramatically due to DNA and other new evidentiary technologies that can demonstrate innocence of formally convicted persons. This research focuses on the lived experience of exoneration and its aftermath through a life history of John Thompson (JT), a New Orleans native, convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1985. In 2003, after eighteen years in Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, fourteen on death row, JT was exonerated. Exoneration theoretically removes the official stigma of conviction and restores full civil rights on former prisoners such as JT. Yet ―exonerees‖ face all the social, political, and personal problems that characterize the post-release experience of convicted felons. JT‘s experience is an important case of exonerees‘ quest for the restoration of standing, justice and compensation.

Animals must balance multiple, fitness-related traits in environments that are complex and characterized by co-varying factors, such as co-variation in temperature and food availability. Thus, experiments manipulating multiple environmental factors provide valuable insight into the role of the environment in shaping not only important traits (e.g., dispersal capacity or reproduction), but also trait-trait interactions (e.g., trade-offs between traits). We employed a multi-factorial design to manipulate variation in temperature (constant 28°C vs. 28±5°C daily cycle) and food availability (unlimited vs. intermittent access) throughout development in the sand field cricket, Gryllus firmus. We found that fitness-related, life-history traits and trait trade-offs can be developmentally plastic in response to variation in temperature and food availability. Variability in temperature and food availability influenced development, growth, body size, reproductive investment, and/or flight capacity, and food availability also affected survival to adulthood. Further, both constant temperature and unlimited food availability promoted investment into key components of somatic and reproductive tissues while reducing investment into flight capacity. We develop an experimental and statistical framework to reveal shifts in correlative patterns of investment into different life-history traits. This approach can be applied to a range of animal systems to investigate how environmental complexity influences traits and trait trade-offs.

Body size has a potential to influence almost any trait in animal biology. The thesis contains four case studies (I - IV) covering four various situations and four various taxa, mainly squamate reptiles (Lepidosauria). Body size is a connecting factor for all these studies, in which I and my co-authors tried to elucidate various implications of body size. I. The sex ratio in Cuban boa (Chilabothrus angulifer) litters is often male or female biased. The neonates are so large, that are able to accept the same type of prey as are adults (in contrast to the other Chilabothrus species). We found that both the sexes are of the same size and shape at birth. Large size of the neonates a long lifespan lead to considerable generation overlaps. This could clarify our findings that small females produce sons whereas the larger ones deliver daughters. Males are smaller than females, probably also less philopatric and refuse food during breeding season. We can conclude that females manipulate the sex ratio of neonates according to its own body size, in order to decrease the probability of competition with their own offspring. II. Mangrove-dwelling monitor lizard (Varanus indicus) shows one of the greatest degrees of sexual size dimorphism among monitor lizards. We recorded the growth of the individuals from...

Le titre de la thèse concernant le succès des nématodes peut sembler extremement vaste. Notre projet était pourtant bien d’avoir une vue d’ensemble de l’ensemble des acteurs, à savoir les nématodes parasites du tube digestif mais également l’hôte et certains aspects de sa réponse, et enfin l’éleveur qui est celui qui décide du mode d’élevage et des traitements antiparasitaires. Nous avons essentiellement travaillé en conditions expérimentales et sur une espèce de ces strongles. En ce qui concerne les traits de vie des nématodes plusieurs grands phénomènes conditionnent leur succès : a) leur capacité assez variable selon les isolats à infester un hôte, b) l’interaction entre résistance aux antiparasitaires et cette capacité à infester, c) enfin leur aptitude à survivre aux stress climatiques au cours de leur phase non-parasitaire. / The success of gastrointestinal nematodes in their sheep hosts is so extensive that they present one of the leading threats to ruminant health and production throughout the globe. This thesis research identified three key factors which influence their success including the gastrointestinal nematode biology, the sheep host protective response and the farmers control decisions. Using Haemonchus contortus as a model species, we demonstrated that the success of GIN biology is aided by their capacity to overcome numerous selective pressures that target both parasitic and free-living stages in their life cycle. This was achieved by amplifying life-history traits following challenge to recoup any costs in survival and reproduction. In turn, high levels of fitness were maintained and they remained stable in the face of numerous selective pressures. Sheep have the capacity to exert almost perfect control over GIN success by blocking their life cycle through via protective responses.

Esta tese examina o possível vínculo entre história de vida e doença, com a sua respectiva evolução, admitindo que o percurso existencial guarda conexão com o desfecho do quadro e oferece indicadores para o estabelecimento do prognóstico, vendo o ser humano como unidade mente-corpo. Apresta-se para o tema incursionando na relação entre a prognose e a medicina contemporânea; dialogando com Foucault acerca da influência da anatomia patológica no reducionismo da clínica médica; ensaiando em torno da analogia entre os métodos científicos e a sexualidade a partir dos mitos Adão e Eva. O estudo baseia-se na premissa de que o prognóstico pode ser estratificado em cinco tipos: Complicado ou muito desfavorável, Progressivoou moderadamente desfavorável, Estagnado ou incerto, Residual ou moderadamente favorável e Resolvido ou muito favorável, dependendo especialmente de como o indivíduo aproveitou a principal oportunidade e a maneira que lidou com a maior dificuldade de sua vida, além de situações marcantes de sua experiência psicoafetiva ou realização pessoal. Recorre-se em paralelo à abordagem holística prevalente na homeopatia, clareando, porém, alguns pontos obscuros ao identificar que o seu modelo para efetuar o prognóstico limita-se à reação do paciente ao medicamento homeopático ou à gravidade da doença, ignorando a sua trajetória de vida. A pesquisa selecionou quinze de quarenta pacientes em tratamento atual ou pregresso, com qualquer modalidade de câncer, no Hospital do Câncer de Rio Branco e na Associação Amigos do Peito (Abrigo), de ambos os sexos, todos com idade entre 20 e 70 anos. Utilizou-se roteiro semiestruturado de 9 questões, sendo 3 sobre a doença e 6 a respeito de sentimentos ou fatos pretéritos relevantes. As informações permitiram verificar tanto as interseções no agrupamento dos três pacientes de cada tipo prognóstico, quanto as nítidas diferenças dos quinze entre si. A história de vida dos pacientes considerados Complicadoevidencia revolta e/ou inconformação súbita; no Progressivo, conflitos que se acentuam lenta e continuamente; no Estagnado, dificuldades, carências e antagonismos prolongados, mas conservando-se nomesmo patamar; no Residual, morosidade na solução das pendências, seguida por resiliência exitosa; no Resolvido, prontidão para sanar os desafios, com solidariedade e altruísmo. Maior gravidade da doença, óbitos e metástases em relação aos demais tipos predominam no Complicado e Progressivo; o quadro tende a recidiva ou sequela no Estagnado, à remissão no Residual, e casos curados há diversos anos no Resolvido. Concluiu-se que, embora o prognóstico fundamentado na história de vida careça de mais pesquisas, fornece já elementos para corroborar a atividade clínica em diversos campos profissionais, e também pode subsidiar ações voltadas para a saúde pública, em especial no campo preventivo. / This thesis examines the possible link between life history and disease with its respective evolution, admitting that the existential course keeps connection with the outcome and provides indicators for the establishment of the prognosis, seeing the mind-body as unity. The author insoles the theme exploring the relationship between the prognosis and the contemporary medicine;dialoguing with Foucault about the influence of the histopathology in the reductionism of the medical clinic;essaying around the analogy between scientific methods and sexuality from the myths, Adam and Eve.The study is based on the premise that the prognosis can be stratified into five types: Complicatedor very unfavorable, moderately or Progressive, Stagnantor uncertain, Residualor moderately favorable or very favorable or Resolved, depending on how the particular individual took the main chance and the way it dealt with the greatest difficulty of his life besides remarkable situations of his psychoaffective experience. It appeals in parallel to the holistic approach, prevalent in homeopathy, clearing, however, some shady spots in its vision of the mind-body unity, which makes the prognosis inside the limits of the patient\'s reaction to the homeopathic medicine or to the severity of the disease, ignoring the trajectory of his life.The research has selected fifteen between 40 interviewed patients, in current or former treatment of cancer in the Hospital do Câncer de Rio Brancoand the Associação dos Amigos do Peito (Abrigo), of both sexes, all of them aged between 20 and 70 years. The life story of patients considered Complicated evidence sudden revolt and/or non conformity;in the Progressive, conflicts that rises slowly and continuously;in the Stagnant, prolonged difficulties, inadequacies and antagonisms that remains in the same level;in the Residual, delay in solution of disputes, followed by successful resilience;in the Resolved, readiness to settle the challenges, with solidarity and altruism.Greater severity of illness, deaths and metastasis in relation to other types prevail in the Complicated and Progressive;the clinic picture tends torecurrence or sequelin theStagnant;to the remission in the Residual, and to have being cured several years before,in the Resolved.It was concluded that, although the prognosis based on life story requires more research, it already provides elements to support the clinical activity in various professional fields, and can also support actions directed to public health, particularly in the preventive field.

Developmental modularity may facilitate morphological evolution by allowing phenotypic change of a developing body component without negatively impacting other components. I examined foregut development in Amphissa columbiana, a predatory neogastropod with a highly derived foregut and in Crepidula fornicata, a phytoplankton-feeder with a less derived foregut, for evidence of developmental modules. Histological sections revealed that the post-metamorphic buccal cavity and radula of both species form as a ventral outpocketing (ventral module) from the larval esophagus (dorsal module). However, in Amphissa columbiana the ventral outpocketing is semi-isolated from the larval esophagus and also produces an “anterior esophagus” that is not developmentally homologous to the “anterior esophagus” of herbivorous caenogastropods. Semi-isolation of the ventral and dorsal modules of the developing neogastropod foregut allows precocious development of the post-metamorphic foregut during the larval stage without compromising larval feeding. Therefore, development of diverse variants of the post-metamorphic foregut are freed from larval constraints. / Graduate / 2020-08-03

Historicamente o corpo da mulher sempre foi controlado e educado para ser mãe, esposa e dona de casa. Características construídas socialmente e encaradas como biológicas ditaram a submissão da mulher e solidificaram preconceitos e estereótipos. Esses estereótipos também estão presentes nas práticas esportivas e de atividades físicas. Validado pelo discurso médico, a atividade física regular se transformou em um dos principais fatores de obtenção de saúde e qualidade de vida, e incentivada pela publicidade e pela indústria da beleza, em fator indispensável para se obter saúde, beleza e juventude. O culto ao corpo normatiza os padrões corporais das mulheres e os molda a partir daquilo que a sociedade valida como adequado ao corpo feminino. Neste sentido, esta pesquisa se propõe a pensar as possíveis relações entre as escolhas por atividades e a história corporal de três mulheres entre 45 e 55 anos, sendo uma freqüentadora de uma grande rede de academias, uma que faz exercícios com acompanhamento de um personal trainer, e uma freqüentadora de uma academia exclusiva para o público feminino. O objetivo é investigar como as relações sociais de gênero desenvolvidas ao longo da vida dessas mulheres podem influenciar suas práticas e suas escolhas em atividades físicas e corporais. Considerando a natureza qualitativa da pesquisa, o método empregado foi a coleta de história de vida apresentado por Poirier et.all. (1999). A fundamentação teórica baseou-se nas análises em relação ao corpo, especiamente o corpo da mulher, aos movimentos feministas e à categoria de gênero. Estas temáticas foram relacionadas priorizando a compreensão de como foram se construindo e reconstruindo ao longo da história. Perante à análise das entrevistas é possível afirmar, e, em um dos casos, inferir, que essas mulheres possuem um discurso sobre saúde e qualidade de vida que mascara objetivos relacionados à estética. Percebe-se que a história de vida de cada um delas foi fundamental para fazerem hoje as escolhas em diferentes maneiras de se exercitar / Historically, the womans body has always been controlled and educated to be a mother, wife and housewife. Socially-built characteristics seen as biological have dictated womens submission and solidified prejudices and stereotypes. These stereotypes are also present in sports and physical activities. Validated by medical discourse, regular physical activity has become a major factor for pursuit health and quality of life, and encouraged by advertising and \"beauty industry\" in an indispensable factor to achieve health, beauty and youth. The body worship regulates womens body standards and shapes them from what society validates as adequate to the female body. Therefore, this study proposes to consider the possible relations between activities choices and body history of three women between 45 and 55 years of age, one of them being a frequenter at a large chain of gym, another who exercises with the help of a personal trainer, and the third who trains at a gym exclusive to the female public. The goal is to investigate how social gender relations developed during their lifes might influence their practices and choices in physical activity and body. Considering the qualitative nature of this research, the method used was the compilation of life history told by Poirier et al. (1999). The theoretic fundamentation was based in analises related to the body, specially the womans body, to feminist movements and to the gender category. Such theme were related by priorizing the understanding of how they built and rebuit themselves throughout history. As for the interview analysis it is possible to say, and, in one of the cases, infer, that these women have a speech about health and quality of life which hides objectives related to aesthetics. It can be noticed that the life history of each of them was fundamental for them to choose their current different execise methods

Esta dissertação reúne seis histórias de vida das vinte e oito mulheres que conquistaram medalhas nos Jogos Olímpicos de Atlanta, sendo duas atletas de cada uma das três modalidades que garantiram medalhas para o Brasil: basquete, vôlei e vôlei de praia. Os Jogos Olímpicos da Era Moderna são dos fenômenos socioculturais globais de maior repercussão na contemporaneidade, dentre os que almejam tal posto. O Olimpismo idealizado por Pierre de Coubertin conferiu aos Jogos a condição de principal meio de divulgação desse ideal. Sua primeira edição, em 1896, foi o marco inaugural desse ideal. As mulheres, de início, foram excluídas dessa comunidade, e a participação desse grupo oscilou ao longo da história dos Jogos Olímpicos. No que tange à participação brasileira, a primeira delegação brasileira em Jogos foi exclusivamente masculina, em 1920. A estreia feminina, solitária, deu-se em 1932. Isso não representou, contudo, uma disseminação massificada da prática esportiva feminina no Brasil. As primeiras medalhas olímpicas conquistadas por brasileiras datam de 1996. Esse interregno de sessenta e quatro anos é indício dos percalços enfrentados por brasileiras envolvidas com a prática do esporte. A partir de uma indagação do por quê desse intervalo de mais de seis décadas que separam a debutante das medalhistas, este trabalho é produto de uma pesquisa sobre a percepção que as primeiras medalhistas olímpicas brasileiras têm de seu feito paradigmático. As fontes desta pesquisa foram as histórias de vida de seis das pioneiras na conquista de medalhas olímpicas para o Brasil, que alcançam um campo para além das oficialidades, das quais as atletas brasileiras foram excluídas ao longo de anos. Dois pontos são destaque aqui para se analisar as especificidades do esporte olímpico brasileiro. Um, os impedimentos legais da prática de algumas modalidades que foi imposto para as mulheres; o outro, a constatação de que a profissionalização das modalidades femininas foi posterior às masculinas materializada no discurso dessas primeiras medalhistas. A opção em concentrar as análises nesse grupo deu-se pelo pioneirismo dessas mulheres, e pela hipótese de que o discurso apresentado por elas congregaria exemplos significativos dos alicerces que assentaram as bases do esporte olímpico para mulheres no Brasil. / This dissertation presents six individual life histories out of a total of twenty-eight accounts from Brazilian Olympic medalist women competing in basketball, volleyball and beach volley during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. The so-called Olympic Games of the Modern Era are one of the most globally prestigious sociocultural phenomenon of contemporary times. Pierre de Coubertin\'s Olympism conferred worldwide exposure to this ideal of competition; it\'s first edition - held in 1896, being its startup. Initially, women were prevented from participating in this sports community, with their involvement oscillating during the history of Olympic Games. As far as Brazil\'s incursion is concerned, the first Brazilian Delegation officially entered the games in 1920, being exclusively masculine. The solitary premiere of women occurred only in 1932. However, including women in the Olympiad did not disseminate a massive feminine response to sports in Brazil. The first Olympic medals garnered by women took place in 1996. This sixty-four year gap represents quite graphically the perils faced by the Brazilian female athletes in their stubborn determination to play sports. A deep reflection on this considerable interval of more than sixty years between the debut of Brazilian female athletes and their first medals, is the genesis of this paper and the result of a research on the first Brazilian Olympic Female medalists\' own perceptions of their paradigmatic achievement. The sources for this research are primarily the life histories of six Olympic pioneer female medalists whose achievement was a watershed in the history of the Brazilian Olympic Games. Two situations are worth mentioning in order to correctly analyze the specificities of the Brazilian Olympic participation. First, it is worth noting the legal issues preventing the practice of certain sports by women. Secondly, it is interesting to point out that athletic professionalism hit men first; women only materializing the same level of expertise in Atlanta. The decision to concentrate all the analysis on this particular group, took shape due to their innovation as female athletes and due to the hypothesis that their discourse would aggregate significant examples of the grounds which laid the foundations to the Olympic sports for women in Brazil.

Consistent between-individual differences in behaviour (termed “animal personality”) may be driven by adaptive differences in behavioural and physiological life-history traits. The Pace of Life Syndrome (POLS) hypothesis predicts a suit of correlations between those life-history traits along a fast-slow continuum. Therefore, according to the POLS, individuals that are fast-paced would be bolder, more explorative, show high growth-rates, lower immunity and a higher metabolic rate. A mechanistic link between such traits could also explain variation in cognitive traits, where bold individuals are faster at a given task but pay less attention to external cues and therefore make decisions less accurately. Here, I tested the POLS hypothesis focusing on between and within-individual variance in boldness, metabolic rate (MR), cognitive performance (as decision-making performance) and exploration in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus. In addition, I also investigated the potential role of anthropogenic disturbances (constant light exposure) as a driver of between and within-individual variation in boldness. Hermit crabs demonstrated consistent between-individual differences in boldness and exploration, providing evidence for the presence of animal personality. However, variation between individuals in boldness, exploration and cognitive performance were not underpinned by variation in MR. Although there were no between-individual correlations among MR and behaviour, MR did co-vary with within-individual variance in boldness. My results indicate that less predictable hermit crabs, on average, have a higher MR during startle responses compared with those that are relatively consistent in their behaviour. Boldness was positively correlated with exploration rate, indicating that more explorative were also bolder, as well as cognitive performance, as bold individuals had a better performance than shy. Finally, constant light exposure is likely to modify hermit crab personality and physiology. Hermit crabs kept under a constant light regime were less bold and had a higher metabolic rate, than when kept under standard light and dark regime, indicating possible effects light pollution in this species. These results only partially support the POLS hypothesis.

The pitcher plant mosquito Wyeomyia smithii maintains a broad geographic range from the Gulf of Mexico to central Canada, and throughout its range is genetically and phenotypically variable, though fully interfertile. Many of the traits that vary across the broad range of this mosquito owe their diversity to selection on populations, which maximize fitness in the unique environment in which each populations finds itself. While a diversity of traits vary by latitude and merit the interest of evolutionary biologists, including critical photoperiod, voltinism, and thermal tolerance, of interest in the following thesis is the variation in blood-feeding propensity within this single species of mosquito. In no other mosquito species are some populations obligate non-biters while in other populations willingly hematophagous. This thesis explores the evolutionary transition from biting to non-biting in the pitcher plant mosquito at multiple levels of biological integration, starting first by establishing a heritable basis for the transition, then moving to the fitness and life historical consequences of both the natural system and of a line artificially selected in the lab. The latter half of this thesis moves on to probe the genetic architecture underlying the shift in phenotype and ends after examining the transition to non-biting at the level of the gene using an RNA-sequencing experiment. The results stemming from this thesis are thoroughly discussed: in short, we find that fitness differs between biting and non-biting populations, that complex genetic architectures underlie the transition to non-biting in nature, but not under artificial selection, and finally, that many candidate loci are differentially regulated in biting populations relative to non-biting populations and that these loci most often cluster with metabolic biological pathways.