Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 2002. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 3, 2005). Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-118).

Penile plethysmography is amongst the best measures for prediction of sexual recidivism and has been extensively researched. However, there are a variety of criticisms regarding use of penile plethysmography (PPG), including financial investment, significant training needs, lack of standardization, intrusive nature of the measure, extensive time for testing, and inability to use PPG with all groups of sexual offenders (e.g., women and adolescents). Viewing time has been studied, though not as extensively as PPG, regarding detection of sexual interest. This study examined the relationship between Monarch 21 PPG and Affinity viewing time variables, including responses to individual stimuli, a sex deviance differential, and a sex deviance ratio. It was predicted that there would be a significant positive correlation between key variables of the Monarch 21 PPG and Affinity. Overall, the associations found between the Monarch 21 PPG and the Affinity were significant, although the magnitudes of the associations were modest. When considering sexual deviance ratios and differentials (as is typically utilized in PPG literature), there was a small, but significant association between the Monarch 21 PPG and the Affinity. Consequently, it is recommended that more research be done comparing these two sets of measures, further evaluating the Affinity and its' predictive validity, and examining the complex arousal pattern shapes, rather than focusing only on a series of discrete variables.

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are well known to depend almost exclusively on milkweed (genus Asclepias) host plants for oviposition sites, as their larvae need to ingest compounds critical for adult butterfly chemical defense against predators. Many phytophagous insects make fast and accurate decisions on the quality of host plants, and whether or not to accept them as oviposition sites. We were interested in the cues that attract monarchs (males and females) to milkweed, while in flight, before contact stimulation can occur. We developed a novel flight apparatus to test monarch attraction behaviour, under a number of different experimental protocols, to both milkweed and control stimuli in order to identify the cues necessary or sufficient for monarch attraction to milkweed. Monarchs were found to be attracted to milkweed stimuli when the visual image alone of milkweed was available or when olfactory cues alone were available. Attraction behaviour was maximized when both cues were available. It was also discovered that attraction to milkweed was significantly diminished when ultraviolet reflection from milkweed leaves was prevented from being detected by monarchs in flight. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2007-08-09 12:22:17.691

The present thesis document delves into constructing a creative methodology within documentary ecology to approach narrative intersections between P'urhépecha families from Cherán, Mexico, living in Cobden, Illinois, and Monarch butterfly migration across North America. Doing so entails merging essential notions from Cultural Theory, Third Cinema, Native American and Indigenous Futurism, and Documentary futurism to draw a transdisciplinary approach invested in active negotiation across two sensitive realms in response to the experience of migration. "Footprints in the sky", the resulting creative project, merges elements from documentary film, experimental narrative, and the film essay, using Monarch butterfly migration as a metaphor in dialogue with the stories of migrant families from Cherán now living in Cobden. This multidisciplinary effort aims to shed light on the potential of the Monarch butterfly engaged with Indigenous Futurism as a multidimensional metaphor to negotiate trans-national corporate power, Nation-State borderland management, and the criminalization of immigration in a context marked by the continued prominence of neoliberal policies in North America.

Migratory species are expected to demonstrate habitat selection that occurs at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Western monarch butterflies migrate seasonally to overwinter in groves at geographically predictable locations along the California coast. To date, overwintering habitat selection by western monarch butterflies has been studied assuming that habitat selection occurs where overwintering aggregations form, meaning at the spatial scale where monarchs form dense overwintering aggregations within overwintering groves. We argue that since western monarch butterflies are migratory, studies of habitat selection could have commingled selection at different scales into a single spatial scale. This likely leads to ignoring some levels of habitat selection, confounding the scale of habitat selection itself, and potentially misidentifying the habitat attributes under selection. Therefore, we explore monarch overwintering habitat selection to determine whether an explicit spatial framework is necessary.We studied nine groves on the coast of California and at each grove we collected temperature, humidity, and light data from grove edges, grove interiors, and aggregation locations over several weeks of the overwintering season. We tested the hypothesis that monarchs aggregate in locations within groves that have consistent attributes across groves. We find that locations on the outer edges of groves differed significantly in particular attributes of daily temperature and light from the interior of groves. Yet we find neither evidence supporting the hypothesis that the aggregation locations have a unique microclimate that differs significantly from other locations inside the grove nor that aggregation locations are uniform in their microclimatic attributes across overwintering groves. Rather, we find that the microclimatic attributes at the aggregation locations vary spatially with latitude. Thus, the overwintering climatic attributes that appear to be under selection varied spatially based on locations within groves and based on latitude of each particular grove. We conclude it will be necessary to consider spatial effects when studying western monarch butterfly overwintering habitat selection and that interpretations of habitat selection to date have commingled habitat selection at multiple spatial scales.

The presence of inhabitants in protected areas, a common occurrence in developing countries, represents a major challenge for conservation. This MA thesis questions the state's strategy in the case of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, in Mexico, a strategy which is officially based on the implementation of sustainable development through the participation of local communities. Working with the assumption that sustainable development is a political concept that implies a competition between different actors in order to define what has to be sustained, for whom, by whom, why, and how, I first analyze the factors that, until now, have impeded local inhabitants' participation. I argue that the subordination of civil society by the state during the last century is a historical burden that has debilitated civil society's capacity for effective participation. Second, I discuss the state's vision of sustainable development and the weight given to the two conflicting visions held, on the one hand, by local inhabitants and, on the other, by the environmentalists and biologists. I conclude that the state's appeal for the participation of local communities is not in recognition of the fact that local inhabitants have the right to greater input in the definition of sustainable development in the region, but needs to be understood as a strategy to achieve rule compliance. Unfortunately, then, while the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve may be managed according to a vision of sustainable development, this is not a vision that has emerged from a dialogue between the state and civil society. Local support is thus unlikely since transforming local communities into allies would rather require achieving a compromise based upon genuine dialogue.

No description available.

Given the rapid population decline and recent petition for listing of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus L.) under the Endangered Species Act, an accurate estimate of the Eastern, migratory population size is needed. Because of difficulty in counting individual monarchs, the number of hectares occupied by monarchs in the overwintering area is commonly used as a proxy for population size, which is then multiplied by the density of individuals per hectare to estimate population size. There is, however, considerable variation in published estimates of overwintering density, ranging from 6.9-60.9 million ha(-1). We develop a probability distribution for overwinter density of monarch butterflies from six published density estimates. The mean density among the mixture of the six published estimates was similar to 27.9 million butterflies ha(-1) (95% CI [2.4-80.7] million ha(-1)); the mixture distribution is approximately log-normal, and as such is better represented by the median (21.1 million butterflies ha(-1)). Based upon assumptions regarding the number of milkweed needed to support monarchs, the amount of milkweed (Asciepias spp.) lost (0.86 billion stems) in the northern US plus the amount of milkweed remaining (1.34 billion stems), we estimate >1.8 billion stems is needed to return monarchs to an average population size of 6 ha. Considerable uncertainty exists in this required amount of milkweed because of the considerable uncertainty occurring in overwinter density estimates. Nevertheless, the estimate is on the same order as other published estimates, The studies included in our synthesis differ substantially by year, location, method, and measures of precision. A better understanding of the factors influencing overwintering density across space and time would be valuable for increasing the precision of conservation recommendations.

Vorstellung des Multimedia ONline ARchivs CHemnitz, im Zusammenhang mit der Archivierung und Publizierung von Dissertationen. Es werden Ziele und Prinzipien erlaeutert, Erfahrungen vermittelt und ein Ausblick zu aktuellen und kuenftigen Arbeiten gegeben.

Vortrag UNIX-Stammtisch 09/98