Dissertation / The aim of the study was to investigate the appointment process of education managers and the consequences of this for schools. A literature study was conducted on these two aspects. This was followed by a survey involving 67 educators from three geographically divergent secondary schools in Kwa-Zulu Natal, namely an urban, rural and peri-urban school. The respondents’ views indicate flaws in the current system related to: the minimum requirements for principalship, the shortlisting and interview processes and the role of bias in the selection of candidates. Respondents also believed that insufficient attention was paid to induction and mentorship programmes. The before mentioned impacted negatively on the school’s functionality regarding quality assurance, inter-personal relations, decision-making, parental involvement and learner discipline. These relate to low educator morale. The findings of the study indicate that the current system of educator promotions needs to revised so as to improve best practice in the profession.

abstract: The coordination of group behavior in the social insects is representative of a broader phenomenon in nature, emergent biological complexity. In such systems, it is believed that large-scale patterns result from the interaction of relatively simple subunits. This dissertation involved the study of one such system: the social foraging of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus. Physically tiny with small population sizes, these cavity-dwelling ants provide a good model system to explore the mechanisms and ultimate origins of collective behavior in insect societies. My studies showed that colonies robustly exploit sugar water. Given a choice between feeders unequal in quality, colonies allocate more foragers to the better feeder. If the feeders change in quality, colonies are able to reallocate their foragers to the new location of the better feeder. These qualities of flexibility and allocation could be explained by the nature of positive feedback (tandem run recruitment) that these ants use. By observing foraging colonies with paint-marked ants, I was able to determine the `rules' that individuals follow: foragers recruit more and give up less when they find a better food source. By altering the nutritional condition of colonies, I found that these rules are flexible - attuned to the colony state. In starved colonies, individual ants are more likely to explore and recruit to food sources than in well-fed colonies. Similar to honeybees, Temmnothorax foragers appear to modulate their exploitation and recruitment behavior in response to environmental and social cues. Finally, I explored the influence of ecology (resource distribution) on the foraging success of colonies. Larger colonies showed increased consistency and a greater rate of harvest than smaller colonies, but this advantage was mediated by the distribution of resources. While patchy or rare food sources exaggerated the relative success of large colonies, regularly (or easily found) distributions leveled the playing field for smaller colonies. Social foraging in ant societies can best be understood when we view the colony as a single organism and the phenotype - group size, communication, and individual behavior - as integrated components of a homeostatic unit. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Biology 2014

Submitted by (lucia.rodrigues@ufrpe.br) on 2016-06-17T12:55:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Wandoberto Francisco da Silva.pdf: 4240476 bytes, checksum: 17478d9e4dfbb346e78f70a44c8c7b78 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-17T12:55:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Wandoberto Francisco da Silva.pdf: 4240476 bytes, checksum: 17478d9e4dfbb346e78f70a44c8c7b78 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This paper aims to analyze the recruitment of children for the Navy Learners Company of Pernambuco, located in Recife, before and especially during the War of Paraguay, between the years 1857-1870. This was one of the ways found by the elites of wealth and power and the authorities of Pernambuco to insert, discipline and take out of the cities a childhood that needed care and investment, making it useful to themselves and to the State. Military service in the Navy gave occupation to a smaller set that was often distributed in urban space, committing robberies, disorders or insulting the established order. Taken ou from the cities, these children contributed to the training of sailors and workers to serve the Imperial Armada. The concepts of Biopower and disciplinary power of Michel Foucault have become indispensable for understanding the emergency of new political and social attitudes of the Brazilian State that were analyzed in this work. The dissertation was drawn from the analysis of documentary sources of the Docyard of the Navy of Pernambuco, specifically matches the Arsenal Inspector, which together with the laws of the Brazilian Empire, the ministerial reports and the help of the theoretical and thematic discussions are the pillars of this study. It is worth noting, too, that not all the boys wanted or fell into the strong disciplinary structure common to the military establishments of the nineteenth century period. This was an issue that was highlighted on the trails of the students of Learners Companies or the rejection of the boys, of different ages, showed the mesh responsible for the military recruitment. / Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o recrutamento de crianças para as Companhias de Aprendizes da Marinha de Pernambuco, localizada no Recife, antes e, sobretudo, durante a Guerra do Paraguai, entre os anos o de 1857 a 1870. Esta foi uma das maneiras encontradas pelas elites e autoridades pernambucanas de inserir, de disciplinar e tirar cidades uma infância que precisava de cuidados e investimentos, tornando-se útil a si e ao Estado. O serviço militar na Marinha dava ocupação a um conjunto de menores que muitas vezes estava distribuído no espaço urbe, cometendo roubos, desordens ou insultando a ordem estabelecida. Retirados das cidades, essas crianças contribuíram para a formação de marinheiros e operários aos serviços da Armada imperial. Os conceitos de Biopoder e poder disciplinar de Michel Foucault tornaram-se imprescindíveis para a compreensão da emergência de novas posturas políticas e sociais do Estado brasileiro que foram analisados nesse trabalho. A dissertação foi elaborada a partir da análise das fontes documentais do Arsenal da Marinha de Pernambuco, especificamente as correspondências do Inspetor do Arsenal, que juntamente com as leis do Império brasileiro, os relatórios ministeriais e o auxilio das discussões temáticas e teóricas são os pilares desse estudo. Vale destacar, também, que nem todos os garotos desejaram ou se enquadraram na forte estrutura disciplinar comum aos estabelecimentos militares do período oitocentista. Essa foi uma questão que foi evidenciada nas fugas dos educandos das Companhias de Aprendizes ou na rejeição que os meninos, de diferentes idades, apresentaram a malha responsável pelo recrutamento militar.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-03-14T13:49:11Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação - Hedyane M. Pereira.pdf: 1805123 bytes, checksum: cd4b7abba657bce50601a4311f32c163 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-14T13:49:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação - Hedyane M. Pereira.pdf: 1805123 bytes, checksum: cd4b7abba657bce50601a4311f32c163 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-30 / CNPQ / Conhecer os primeiros estágios do ciclo de vida dos organismos que representam a base da estrutura recifal, são fundamentais para o entendimento dos fatores que contribuem para a dinâmica populacional em ambientes recifais. O objetivo principal dessa pesquisa foi avaliar o efeito de 17 anos de proibição de pesca e atividade turísticas, nos processos de assentamento e recrutamento de corais e outros organismos bentônicos em Tamandaré, PE. Seiscentos e sessenta e duas placas de cerâmica foram utilizadas como substratos artificiais para avaliar o recrutamento de organismos bentônicos, sendo 336 distribuídas na área fechada de Tamandaré, e 336 distribuídas em quatro recifes da área aberta. Mensalmente, 48 placas foram postas nos ambientes recifais entre outubro de 2014 à julho de 2015 permanecendo imersas por três meses antes de serem analisadas. As superfícies superiores e inferiores de cada placa foram fotografadas e depois analisadas em lupa estereoscópica para o levantamento qualitativo e quantitativo dos organismos bentônicos. Vinte e quatro placas foram colocadas no recife da Ilha da Barra (área fechada) em agosto de 2014 e retiradas em julho de 2015, inicialmente com o objetivo de amostragem piloto, mas depois serviram de experimento para verificar o recrutamento anual de organismos bentônicos da área fechada de Tamandaré. Dados estatísticos foram verificados através da Análise de Variância (ANOVA) no programa Statview 5.0. Para cada recruta de coral, a preferência de assentamento na parte superior e inferior de cada placa e o posicionamento de borda e centro foram registrados e não havendo diferenças significativas entre os respectivos fatores. O maior recrutamento de corais foi encontrado no recife da Ilha da Barra (área fechada), possuindo 2,6 vezes mais recrutas do que nos recifes da área aberta, tendo o maior período de assentamento nos meses do verão. 64,84% do tamanho dos recrutas de corais, mediam entre 1 e 2mm de diâmetro com aproximadamente três meses de imersão de placas, porém não houve diferenças significativas para o crescimento dos corais à medida que mudava o período sazonal. Neste trabalho também foi verificada a densidade média de recrutas de anelídeos, crustáceos, moluscos, equinodermas, poríferas e tunicatos. Foi registrada pela primeira vez para o litoral de Tamandaré, a ascídia Didemmnum psammatodes. A estimativa da cobertura viva e substrato foram analisados, possuindo as algas turf, a maior porcentagem de cobertura viva na amostragem sobreposta, e as algas calcárias maior cobertura viva na amostragem anual. Este estudo fornece evidências de que reservas marinhas podem incentivar a recuperação dos ambientes recifais que foram degradados, o que, por sua vez, pode criar uma série de benefícios no aumento da biomassa de organismos bentônicos e no restabelecimento do ecossistema recifal. / Knowing the first stages of life cycle of the organisms that represents the base of reef structure, are fundamentals to understand the factors that contribute to the populations dynamics in the environmental reef. The main goal of this research was avaluate the effect of 17 years of fishingexclusion and touristic activities, in the process of coral settlement and recruitment, and others benthic organisms in Tamandaré-PE. Six hundred and sixty-two plates were used like artificial substrates to evaluate the benthic organisms recruitment, being 336 distributed in the no-take area of Tamandaré and 336 in five reefs in the take area. Monthly, 48 plates were put in the reefs between October 2014 and July 2015, remaining immersed for three months before analysed. Both upper and lower surfaces of each plate was photographed and after that analysed with a magnifying glass to quantitative and qualitative survey of the benthic organisms. Twenty-four plates were put in the Ilha da Barra reef (closed area) in August 2014 and removed in July 2015, initially with aiming pilot sample, but then served to verify the annual recruitment of benthic organisms in the same area. Statistic data were verified through Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in the program Statview 5.0. The preference of settlement on upper and lower plate surface and the border and center position, was registered for each coral recruit and the analysis showed have no significant differences between the factors. The higher coral recruitment was found in the Ilha da Barra reef, with 2,6 time more recruits than not protected reefs, have higher settlement in the summer. 64,84% of coral recruit size, measured between 1 and 2 mm of diameter with approximatly three months-immersed, but had not significant diferences to growth as the changed the seasonal period. In this research, it was also verified the avarage density of annelids, barnacles, mollusks, echinoderms, sponges and ascidians. For the first time in Tamandaré’s region it was registered the ascidan Didemmnum psammatodes. The estimate alive and substrate coverage was analysed, they have Turf algae, the higher percentage of covarage in the overlapping-sampling and the crustose coralline algae a higher percentage coverage in the annual-sampling. This study provides evidences that marine reserves can motivate a recover of reef environmental that was degraded, and then, not only create a serie of benefits on biomass but also the re-establishment of the coral reef ecosystem.

A hipoventilação secundária ao procedimento anestésico é comum na prática anestésica, e, sendo assim, o emprego de técnicas de ventilação mecânica é adotado como forma de minimizar e/ou evitar os efeitos deletérios da hipoventilação. Porém, o uso de ventiladores mecânicos não é isento de risco, e atelectasias podem se formar mesmo quando são utilizados. Para análise em tempo real do pulmão, a técnica de tomografia por impedância elétrica vem sendo empregada em conjunto com outros meios de monitoração, tendo se demonstrado um meio útil de avaliação da ventilação pulmonar de maneira não invasiva, passível de ser utilizada à beira do leito e sem emissão de radiação. Estudos utilizando o tomógrafo de impedância elétrica em cães são escassos. O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar a ventilação de cães submetidos à anestesia inalatória e à ventilação mecânica utilizando a técnica de tomografia por impedância elétrica. Foram utilizados onze cães com peso superior a 16 kg e classificados como baixo risco anestésico (ASA I ou II). Os animais receberam acepromazina e meperidina como medicação pré-anestésica, propofol como indutor e isofluorano na manutenção da anestesia. Foram mantidos em ventilação mecânica controlada a pressão, com FiO2 de 0,6 e pressão de pico de 10 cmH2O durante os primeiros 90 minutos de anestesia. Foram então realizadas manobras de recrutamento alveolar e instituição de pressão positiva ao final da expiração (PEEP) de 5 cmH2O, e os animais foram avaliados por mais 35 minutos. Os parâmetros foram avaliados 30, 60 e 90 minutos após a indução da anestesia e 5 e 35 minutos após o recrutamento e instituição da PEEP. Apesar de não ter havido diferença estatisticamente significativa nos parâmetros de oxigenação e distribuição da ventilação, foi visível a melhora clínica e nas curvas de oxigenação e impedância. As curvas de impedância geradas a partir dos dados obtidos pelo tomógrafo de impedância elétrica acompanharam as curvas de melhora na oxigenação. O fato de, no estudo, terem sido utilizados animais hígidos e submetidos à ventilação mecânica e FiO2 de 0,6 desde o início pode ter contribuído para não ter havido melhora estatisticamente significativa, embora clinicamente visível. As manobras de recrutamento utilizadas também foram conservadoras em comparação aos outros trabalhos realizados. Infere-se que, se utilizássemos animais doentes e com FiO2 de 1, poderíamos ter obtido um grau maior de atelectasias nos primeiros 90 minutos de anestesia e/ou, se tivéssemos utilizado manobras de recrutamento menos conservadoras, poderíamos ter obtidos melhora estatisticamente significativa após as manobras e instituição da PEEP. A tomografia de impedância elétrica parece ser um bom meio de monitoração do pulmão em tempo real em cães submetidos à anestesia inalatória. / Hypoventilation secondary to anesthesia is common and, therefore, the use of mechanical ventilation techniques is adopted in order to minimize and/or prevent the deleterious effects of hypoventilation. However, the use of mechanical ventilators has risks, and atelectasis can develop even when they are used. For real-time analysis of the lung, the technique of electrical impedance tomography has been used in conjunction with other means of monitoring, having demonstrated to be useful for assessing pulmonary ventilation in a noninvasively way, and also can be used at the bedside and without radiation emission. There are not many studies using electrical impedance tomography in dogs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ventilation of dogs subjected to inhalation anesthesia and mechanical ventilation using the technique of electrical impedance tomography. We used eleven dogs weighing more than 16 kg and classified as low anesthetic risk (ASA I or II). The animals were premedicated with acepromazine and meperidine, anesthesia was induced with propofol and maintained with isoflurane. Ventilation was then instituted with FiO2 of 0.6 and peak pressure of 10 cm H2O during the first 90 minutes of anesthesia. Alveolar recruitment maneuvers were realized and pressure positive end- expiratory pressure (PEEP) of 5 cmH2O was initiated. The animals were evaluated for more 35 minutes then. The parameters were measured at 30, 60 and 90 minutes after induction of anesthesia and 5 and 35 minutes after recruitment. Although there was no statistically significant difference in the parameters of oxygenation and ventilation distribution, clinical improvement was visible as was the oxygenation and impedance curves. The impedance curves generated from the data obtained with the electrical impedance tomograph followed the improvement in oxygenation curves. The fact that in this study we used healthy animals undergoing mechanical ventilation with FiO2 of 0.6 right from the beginning, may have contributed to no improvement statistically significant but clinically visible. Recruitment maneuvers used were also conservative in comparison to other papers. We think that, if we used animals and patients with FiO2 of 1, we could have obtained a higher degree of atelectasis in the first 90 minutes of anesthesia and/or, if we had used less conservative recruitment maneuvers, we could have obtained statistically significant improvement after maneuvers and institution of PEEP. The electrical impedance tomography seems to be a good means of real time monitoring the lung of dogs undergoing inhalation anesthesia.

A anestesia do paciente equino acometido por síndrome do abdômen agudo ainda é uma das situações mais desafiadoras enfrentada pelo médico veterinário anestesiologista na pratica clínica. Apesar dos inúmeros avanços alcançados na área de ventilação mecânica, monitoramento avançado do status volêmico e atendimento do paciente critico, o equilíbrio entre a melhor estratégia de ventilação, de modo a minimizar a ocorrência de shunt e espaço morto, e a otimização dos parâmetros de oxigenação e hemodinâmica para que a perfusão sanguínea para os tecidos periféricos seja mantida, ainda não foi determinada para cavalo afetado por síndrome cólica. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o impacto de dois valores diferentes de pressão positiva ao final da expiração (PEEP) sobre os parâmetros de ventilação, oxigenação, hemodinâmica e consumo de fármacos vasopressores em equinos submetidos a laparotomia exploratória em decorrência de quadros de abdômen agudo de diferentes etiologias. Para isso foram utilizados 20 animais, sendo 12 machos e 8 fêmeas, pesando 431±95 kg e encaminhados para o serviço de cirurgia de grandes animais da Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia de Universidade de São Paulo (FMVZ/USP). Após avaliação pré-anestésica os animais foram pré-medicados com xilazina (0,6mg/kg-1) pela via intravenosa, decorridos 10 minutos realizou-se a indução da anestesia com cetamina (2,2mg/kg-1) associada a diazepam (0,05mg/kg-1). Os animais foram então posicionados em decúbito dorsal, mantidos em ventilação mecânica por volume controlado, com volume corrente de 14mL/kg e submetidos a manobra de recrutamento alveolar por escalonamento da PEEP, de maneira crescente a cada 5 minutos até 22 cmH2O, seguida do escalonamento decrescente, de forma que os animais foram então divididos sistematicamente em 2 grupos: PEEP constante de 12 cmH2O (Grupo PEEP12, n=10) ou PEEP constante de 17 cmH2O (Grupo PEEP17, n=10) durante todo o procedimento anestésico. O grupo PEEP12 apresentou valores de pressão arterial média (PAM) e pH significativamente maiores durante todo o período após a instituição do tratamento, bem como menor consumo de dobutamina e noradrenalina para a manutenção da PAM>60 mmHg. No grupo PEEP12 houve ainda uma tendência de valores maiores de base excesso após a instituição do tratamento. Não houve diferença entre os dois grupos para os valores dos parâmetros de oxigenação no período pós anestésico. / The equine patient suffering from acute abdomen syndrome anesthesia remains one of the biggest challenges for the veterinary anesthesiologist. Despite many advances on mechanical ventilation, volemic status monitoring and critical care patient management it is still extremely difficult to achieve the balance between the best ventilation strategy to minimize the occurrence of ventilation mismatch and the optimization of cardiovascular parameters to keep blood perfusion to peripheral tissues within normal ranges. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of a stepwise increase in airway pressure recruitment and two different values of positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) on ventilatory, oxygenation and hemodynamics parameters as well as vasoactive drugs consumption on horses undergoing exploratory laparotomy. Thus, twenty client-owned horses, weighing 431± 95 kg, refered to the Large Animal Surgery Service of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, at the University of São Paulo were included on the study. The animals were premedicated with xilazine (0,6mg/kg-1) and after 10 minutes the anesthesia was induced with ketamine (2,2 mg/kg-1) and diazepam (0,05 mg/kg-1). The subjects were positioned in dorsal recumbence, maintained in volume controlled mechanical ventilation, with tidal volume of 14ml/kg. After 30 min of instrumentation the recruitment maneuver (RM) was performed by PEEP titration with increments of 5 cmH2O every 5 min up to a PEEP of 20 cmH2O followed by decremental PEEP titration until 12 cmH20 (Group PEEP12, n=10) or 17 cmH2O (Group PEEP 17, n=10) until the end of surgical procedure. The Group PEEP12 had significantly higher values of mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and pH for 100 minutes after the RM was performed. The animals in this group also needed less vasoactive drugs (dobutamine and noradrenaline) to keep the MAP>60mmHg during the whole anesthesia time. There was no difference between group PEEP12 a group PEEP 17 regarding oxygenation parameters 30 minutes after the anesthesia was ended.

Abstract The aims were to examine the importance of regeneration by seeds, the influence of plant traits and disturbances, and the role of seed-seedling conflicts in regeneration and in the determination of vegetation structure. The study was carried out at in a subarctic alpine area (Kilpisjärvi 69°01'N 20°50E', Finland). Seed bank and seedling densities were high in many plant communities (ranges 99 -1109 viable seeds/m2 and 0.2-227 seedlings/m2, respectively). Effective seedling recruitment is reflected in vegetation as a high proportion of plants with poor or no vegetative reproduction ability. This development may take place in meadows and snowbeds where herbs (e.g. Gnaphalium supinum, Sibbaldia procumbens, Veronica alpina and Viola biflora) are abundant. On the other hand, the low proportion of these plants in heath vegetation reflects ineffective seedling recruitment. Floristic similarities between the consecutive phases in the regeneration pathway may be low despite effective seedling recruitment. Clonality, large and small seed sizes and appendaged diaspores limit the movement of species from phase to phase. Generally, disturbances facilitate effective regeneration by seeds. Grazing promotes species with large seed banks and is therefore one reason for high seed bank densities. Freezing and melting processes negate a negative influence of altitude on seed bank densities in the phase of seedlings. However, if disturbances are severe and continuous and the soil is compact, unstable or dry, disturbances are not beneficial. The same is true if there is a shift in the species composition of seedlings from gaps to closed vegetation. This phenomenon occurred in a rich meadow. Seed-seedling conflicts limit regeneration by seeds in low-herb snowbeds and Ranunculus glacialis-Gymnomitrion snowbeds. Vegetative reproduction and infrequent pulses of seedling recruitment negate an influence of short-term seedling recruitment on the spatial structure of vegetation. Extreme conditions, such as low temperatures, instability of the soil and late snowmelt modify the influence of factors that are important in more moderate conditions. To conclude, all transitions limit regeneration by seeds. However, favourable conditions (e.g. moist conditions in a meadow) partly eliminate the obstacles against seedling emergence. Regeneration by seeds therefore has a major impact on the dynamics and structure of vegetation. In heath vegetation, where bare soils are dry and the moss cover is thick, large seed banks and seed rains do not guarantee effective seedling recruitment. The regeneration process is reduced in the early phases, and plants that reproduce primarily by seeds have a minor role in vegetation. The accumulation of seed banks is effective in these circumstances.

Background: Spina bifida (SB) is monitored through birth defects surveillance across the United States and in most developed countries. Although much is known about the management of SB and its many comorbid conditions in affected individuals, there are few systematic, longitudinal studies on population-based cohorts of children or adults. The natural history of SB across the life course of persons with this condition is not well documented. Earlier identification of comorbidities and secondary conditions could allow for earlier intervention that might enhance the developmental trajectory for children with SB. Objective: The purpose of this project was to assess the development, health, and condition progression by prospectively studying children who were born with SB in Arizona and Utah. In addition, the methodology used to collect the data would be evaluated and revised as appropriate. Methods: Parents of children with SB aged 3-6 years were eligible to participate in the study, in English or Spanish. The actual recruitment process was closely documented. Data on medical history were collected from medical records; family functioning, child behaviors, self-care, mobility and functioning, and health and well-being from parent reports; and neuropsychological data from testing of the child. Results: In total, 152 individuals with SB were identified as eligible and their parents were contacted by site personnel for enrollment in the study. Of those, 45 (29.6%) declined to participate and 6 (3.9%) consented but did not follow through. Among 101 parents willing to participate, 81 (80.2%) completed the full protocol and 20 (19.8%) completed the partial protocol. Utah enrolled 72.3% (73/101) of participants, predominately non-Hispanic (60/73, 82%) and male (47/73, 64%). Arizona enrolled 56% (28/50) of participants they had permission to contact, predominately Hispanic (18/28, 64%) and male (16/28, 57%). Conclusions: We observed variance by site for recruitment, due to differences in identification and ascertainment of eligible cases and the required institutional review board processes. Restriction in recruitment and the proportion of minorities likely impacted participation rates in Arizona more than Utah.

Nearshore marine habitats provide critical nursery grounds for juvenile fishes, but their functional role requires the consideration of the impacts of spatial connectivity. This thesis examines nursery function in seagrass habitats through a marine landscape (“seascape”) lens, focusing on the spatial interactions between habitats, and their effects on population and trophic dynamics associated with nursery function to rockfish (Sebastes spp.). In the temperate Pacific Ocean, rockfish depend on nearshore habitats after an open-ocean, pelagic larval period. I investigate the role of two important spatial attributes, habitat adjacency and complexity, on rockfish recruitment to seagrass meadows, and the provision of subsidies to rockfish food webs. To test for these effects, underwater visual surveys and collections of young-of-the-year (YOY) Copper Rockfish recruitment (summer 2015) were compared across adjacent seagrass, kelp forest, and sand habitats within a nearshore seascape on the Central Coast of British Columbia. Recruitment was positively influenced by the structural complexity of seagrass and adjacency to kelp forest sites, however a negative interaction between seagrass complexity and kelp forest adjacency suggests that predation modifies Copper Rockfish recruitment densities. In addition, using δ13C and δ15N isotopes to determine the basal contributions to seagrass food webs, kelp-derived nutrients were on average 47% ± 0.4 of YOY Copper Rockfish diets, which was 3x and 67x greater than the contribution of autochthonous seagrass production (seagrass epiphyte and seagrass blades, respectively). YOY Copper Rockfish diets in seagrass adjacent to sand habitats had the greatest amounts of kelp-derived nutrients and harpacticoid copepods, and concurrently had lower body condition compared to rockfish in the seagrass kelp edges and interior, feeding predominantly on seagrass epiphytes and calanoid copepods. This thesis provides further evidence that temperate seagrasses are nurseries for rockfish and that spatial elements of seascapes, including connectivity via habitat adjacency and variability in habitat structure, alter the recruitment and diets of rockfish in seagrass habitats. These seascape nursery effects are important considerations for marine planning, especially given the global decline of nearshore habitats. / Graduate

Recruitment is a mission-critical process for human resources management. Due to the high turnover rate and lack of specific skill requirements, the retail sector has an acute need to hire new employees to fill vacancies. Therefore, recruiting a relatively large number of new employees in a limited period of time is crucial for companies in the retail industry. Existing studies have suggested that by designing recruitment activities and utilising appropriate recruitment sources to promote and announce a job, employers are able to attract jobseekers to apply for jobs and join the organisation. The social communication theory highlights four major elements involved in any information communication: the information communicator (source), the information receiver (audience/jobseeker), the response (the receiver’s attitude towards the information received and the decision taken to apply or not) and the stimulus (the message/information content that is transmitted by the communicator). An individual’s ‘attitude’ towards the recruitment information can significantly affect their ‘intention’ of making a job application decision, and this intention can significantly influence their actual decision-making ‘behaviour’, such as accepting a job offer. Consequently, most of these studies focus on the effectiveness of the stimulus (e.g., how the design of the recruitment information content can attract more jobseekers).However, there are divergent results in the literature. For instance, numerous researchers have attempted to investigate how different recruitment information sources can impact jobseekers’ application and recruitment decisions. Some researchers claim that the formal, company-controlled, recruitment information sources, such as advertising and corporate websites, are less effective than informal. By contrast, other researchers indicate that formal sources are used and accepted more often by jobseekers because this information is regarded as considered to be more objective and reliable than the experience-based route (e.g., word-of-mouth). Some researchers suggest that employers should provide objective, hard information (confirmable information such as salary and location) and provide the message in the employer’s tone’ using company-controlled sources; thereby not to convey too much soft, experience-based information from employees. Only very limited research has considered the influences of receiver’s differences (individual differences) on the stimulus (content) and communications (source) as a moderator. The receivers’ differences could be the essential information that can be used to interpret the divergent findings in the literature. Psychologists have demonstrated that individual differences will influence personal values and will be translated into personal preferences. Decision-making research suggests that every decision-making process involves individuals’ decision habits and preferences. People tend to keep their decision habits and preferences throughout different decisions. Therefore, individual traits should be considered when seeking to understand how jobseekers evaluate information to make decisions. A well-known classification of individual differences that has been shown to affect decision-making preference is an individual’s decision-making style: maximisers (those who always try to find the best possible result and carefully evaluate all types of information from different sources) and satisficers (who aim for good-enough results and tend to save time resources). The present study aims to address the gap in the existing literature by exploring the possible reactions of different decision-making styles (maximiser vs. satisficer) in response to recruitment messages with different lengths, valences, forms and provider backgrounds that are provided from various sources. Study 1 and Study 2 are employed as groundwork studies to provide a deeper understanding of maximiser-style and satisficer-style retail-trade jobseekers’ traits. The results illustrate retail trade jobseekers’ job-information-seeking preferences and the relationship between an individual’s maximising tendency and other cognitive-based individual characteristics. The results suggest that employers should not exclude either maximiser-style or satisficer-style jobseekers because the current maximiser-style and satisficer-style employees demonstrated the same levels of job satisfaction with no particular group showed a higher or lower turnover intention. Based on the findings of Study 1 and Study 2, Chapter 5 starts with a scenario-based experiment (Study 3). This experiment assesses whether, when presented with a realistic job-information-searching scenario of receiving basic job information from a typical formal short job advertisement, maximisers and satisficers differ in their need for further information. It also explores whether further evaluation is required from informal information sources in relation to valence and tie strength. Study 3 leads to the reflection that staff ‘word-of-mouth’ (SWOM) messages were influential but could not be controlled by organisations. Study 4 expands the findings of Study 3 and tests whether employers can satisfy more maximiser-style and satisficer-style jobseekers’ information needs to encourage their perceived organisational attractiveness (OA) by providing more detailed formal job advertisement messages. The findings highlight that more details of hard information could effectively satisfy jobseekers’ information needs, even though a group of jobseekers still wanted to search for more experience-based information. However, the findings also show that more detailed messages only slightly increase maximisers’ perceived OA and do not increase satisficers’ perceived OA. By extending the findings of Study 3 and Study 4, three scenario-based experiments (Study 5.1, Study 5.2 and Study 5.3) are designed to test how employers can attract more maximiser-style and satisficer-style jobseekers by tailoring their recruitment messages. The results demonstrate that the SWOM-formed realistic job preview (RJP) messages with some negative information could best increase jobseekers’ perception of source credibility and OA. Furthermore, when maximisers and satisficers looked for different job positions they would perceive the source credibility differently if the background information of the information provider as different. A qualitative-based supplementary study (Study 6) is further conducted to delineate three issues that are not directly measured or not sufficiently clarified in the above-mentioned five studies. This complements Studies 3, 4 and 5 and theoretically enhances the understanding of how jobseekers refer to job recruitment messages and how they evaluate the job information. The results contribute to decision-making theory and social communication theory by demonstrating that the notion of maximisers and satisficers represents a significant and central individual trait in job-application information searching and decision-making in the retail trade. Furthermore, the findings suggest that an individual’s decision-making style is an influential moderator for the effectiveness of communication elements. This research also provides a fundamental basis for further studies to apply individual-differences in human resource management field.