AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF REGINA HELEN MOSSOTTI, for the Master of Science degree in ZOOLOGY, presented 23 October 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: FEMALE REACTION TO MALE URINE SCENTS AS POTENTIAL INDICATOR OF MATE CHOICE IN CAPTIVE CHEETAHS (ACINONYX JUBATUS) MAJOR PROFESSOR: GEORGE A. FELDHAMER Genetic variation in the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has become dangerously low because of dramatic population decline and fragmentation. Zoos throughout the world manage captive cheetahs with breeding programs to maximize genetic heterozygosity. Unfortunately, the zoo community has not accomplished consistent breeding success with cheetahs, possibly because of a general lack of information on sociosexual behavior. Currently, individual cheetahs are assigned mates based primarily on genetic relatedness; however, evidence from many species suggests that allowing animals to choose mates increases breeding success. When animals, primarily females, are allowed to choose mates they will often pick the best genetic match. I tested whether female cheetahs can determine their genetic relatedness to males by investigating their urine scents. Voided male urine was collected following scent marking. The female was offered scents from three different males: one from an unrelated male, a "good" mate choice (A), another from a male that was equivalent to a second cousin, an "average" mate choice (B), and one from a male that was closely related, equivalent to a brother/father, a "poor" mate choice (C). Every female was also offered "blank" gauze as a control (D). The scents were offered in a pair-wise forced choice paradigm for a total of six possible combinations. All behaviors displayed toward each scent (and their duration) were recorded. The estrous cycling of each female was monitored through fecal hormone evaluation for approximately six weeks, including the weeks during scent trials. In every pairing except C vs. D, the females spent more time overall with the better mate choice in the pair; with three of the comparisons being significantly different (A>C, t=2.38, df=11, P=0.039; A>D, t=1.88, df=11, P= 0.087 and B>D, t=2.62, df=8, P=0.045). Proximity was the most frequently observed behavior and females spent more time in proximity to the most distantly related male scent in all pairings. They spent significantly more time in proximity with A in AC pairing (t=2.25, df=10, P=0.049) and with B in the BC and BD pairings (t=6.37, df=8, P=0.0002; t=2.46, df=6, P=0.049; respectively). Sniffing was the next most frequently observed behavior, and in all pairings (except CD) females spent more time sniffing the most distantly related male's scent; but was only significantly different for A in the AD pairing (t=2.31, df=7, P=0.055). Lag time of estradiol in fecal samples varies between individuals; therefore, the affect of daily estradiol concentrations on scent choices could not be determined. This is the first mate choice study using urine with a mammalian carnivore.

Submitted by Maria Creuza Silva (mariakreuza@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-11-20T20:10:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE. Patricia Rezende. 2015.pdf: 5618963 bytes, checksum: 242c55b59fb3d5bf20f893a226520a3d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Creuza Silva (mariakreuza@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-11-23T16:52:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE. Patricia Rezende. 2015.pdf: 5618963 bytes, checksum: 242c55b59fb3d5bf20f893a226520a3d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-23T16:52:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE. Patricia Rezende. 2015.pdf: 5618963 bytes, checksum: 242c55b59fb3d5bf20f893a226520a3d (MD5) / Estudo etnográfico na área da Saúde Coletiva, com abordagem antropológica, sobre a constituição da reprodução enquanto um processo biossocial realizado numa vila em uma ilha na região do Baixo-Sul do Estado de Bahia entre 2011 e 2015. Os sujeitos desta tese são marisqueiras e pescadores, majoritariamente negros e de baixa renda, cujo mundo está imerso em processos de transformações sociais. Vivenciam a expansão da vila, o maior acesso a tecnologias e interações dinâmicas com práticas e saberes de diferentes ordens de conhecimento, tanto locais quanto globais, junto a um estreitamento de contato com a esfera urbana, possibilitada por mudanças infraestruturais, nos serviços estatais e no sistema de transporte. Durante um período de oito meses de observação participante, a pesquisa focou as experiências de gravidez, parto e puerpério de dezoito mulheres desta vila. A tese explora as formas em que o processo reprodutivo se constitui no mundo relacional desse povo, nas relações estabelecidas cotidianamente entre os diversos sujeitos, em redes de parentesco e afinidade, e nas relações com os serviços de saúde – dentro e fora da vila – em um contexto de desigualdades de poder, na intersecção entre classe social, raça e gênero. Sublinha-se o papel exercido pelo Estado nestas relações, através da biopolítica, sobretudo relativo ao universo da seguridade social, que é central nesta localidade. Reforçamos o caráter multifatorial da reprodução como um fenômeno amplo, integrado à vida social e marcado por relações de poder. Sinalizamos a interferência que as forças sociais e políticas de nível macro e micro exercem na vida cotidiana e reprodutiva das mulheres deste estudo. Demonstramos ainda como a reprodução é a principal dimensão da vida das mulheres que as coloca em relacionamento com o serviço de saúde – relação que é oscilante, tendo durante a gestação e o puerpério presença menor do que durante o parto.

Understanding how decisions for international investments are made and how this affects the overall pattern of investments and firm’s performance is of particular importance both in strategy and international business research. This dissertation introduced first home-host country relatedness (HHCR) as the degree to which countries are efficiently combined within the investment portfolios of firms. It theorized and demonstrated that HHCR will vary with the motivation for investments along at least two key dimensions: the nature of foreign investments and the connectedness of potential host countries to the rest of the world. Drawing on cognitive psychology and decision-making research, it developed a theory of strategic decision making proposing that strategic solutions are chosen close to a convenient anchor. Building on research on memory imprinting, it also proposed that managers tend to rely on older knowledge representation. In the context of international investment decisions, managers use their home countries as an anchor and are more likely to choose as a site for foreign investments host countries that are ‘close’ to the home country. These decisions are also likely to rely more strongly on closeness to time invariant country factors of historic and geographic nature rather than time-variant institutions. Empirical tests using comprehensive investments data by all public multinational companies (MNC) worldwide, or over 15,000 MNCs with over half a million subsidiaries, support the claims. Finally, the dissertation introduced the concept of International Coherence (IC) defined as the degree to which an MNE’s network comprises countries that are related. It was hypothesized that maintaining a high level of coherence is important for firm performance and will enhance it. Also, the presence of international coherence mitigates some of the negative effects of unrelated product diversification. Empirical tests using data on foreign investments of over 20,000 public firms, while also developing a home-host country relatedness index for up to 24,300 home-host pairs, provided support for the theory advanced.

Knowledge in the spatial patterns of fish larval dispersal is crucial for the establishment of a sustainable management of fisheries and species conservation. Direct quantification of larval dispersal is a challenging task due to the difficulty associated with larval tracking in the vast ocean. However, genetic approaches can be used to estimate it. Here, I employed genetic markers (microsatellites) as a proxy to determine dispersal patterns and self-recruitment levels using parentage analysis in the bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometapon muricatum) in the Solomon Islands. Tissue samples of 3924 fish (1692 juveniles, 1121 males and 1111 females) were collected from a spear-fishery at the Kia District in Santa Isabel Island. The samples come from three distinct zones with different fishing pressure histories (lightly fished, recently fished, and heavily fished). The mean dispersal distance estimated for the bumphead parrotfish was 36.5 Km (range 4 – 78 Km) and the genetic diversity for the population studied was low in comparison with other reef fishes. The parentage analysis identified 68 parent–offspring relationships, which represents a self-recruitment level of almost 50 %. Most of the recruits were produced in the zone that recently started to be fished and most of these recruits dispersed to the heavily fished zone. Comparisons of genetic diversity and relatedness among adults and juveniles suggested the potential occurrence of sweepstakes reproductive success. These results suggest that management measures must be taken straightaway to assure the sustainability of the spear-fishery. These measures may imply the ban on juveniles fishing in the heavily fished zone and the larger adults in the recently fished zone. Overall, the population dynamics of the studied system seem to be strongly shaped by self-recruitment and sweepstakes reproduction events.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which relatedness support affects motivational profiles in rural vs. urban physical education (PE) students. Participants included rural (n=177) and urban (n=431) junior high/high school students (grades 5-12) from Alberta, a western province in Canada (n=508), and Utah, a state in the intermountain west of the USA (n=100). This cross-sectional study measured and assessed students’ basic psychological needs of student-to-student relatedness, student-to-teacher relatedness, competence, and autonomy using a revised version of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS-R). Situational motivation was measured and assessed using the Situational Intrinsic Motivation Scale – Physical Education (SIMS-PE). For data analysis, MANOVA was used to examine significant differences among group variables (urban and rural, gender, and state) for selected variables (basic psychological needs indices and motivational indices). Significant rural vs. urban effects were noted for basic psychological needs and reveal urban students as having significantly more student-to-teacher relatedness (p = .032), competence (p = .001), and autonomy (p = .002) than rural students. Significant rural vs. urban effects were also noted for motivational indices and reveal urban students as having significantly more intrinsic motivation (p < .001), identified regulation (p = .001), and higher Self-Determination Index (SDI) scores (p < .001) than rural students. Significant state effects reveal Alberta students are significantly more intrinsically motivated (p < .001) than Utah students. Due to sheer population size of metropolitan areas, urban students inherently have more PE options and more funding, which possibly allows them to experience greater autonomy and competence. Limited choices in rural schools could be a contributing factor for lower autonomy and competence measures. Rural PE teachers oftentimes teach other core subjects, which possibly makes PE classes less engaging and rigid, thereby causing lower relatedness between teacher and student. The Covid-19 pandemic has predominately paused extracurricular physical activities in urban settings, potentially catalyzing greater meaning and importance in urban PE; possibly initiating greater self-determined motivation for urban students. Rural PE teachers are recommended to be intentional with their relatedness support. PE teachers should adopt a holistic approach to satisfying the basic psychological needs of relatedness, competence, and autonomy instead of focusing on one need at the expense of others.

Involvement in physical activity (PA) and exercise behaviour is multifaceted and depends on bidirectional correlations between multiple factors; one avenue to increase the understanding of sustainable exercise behaviours would be to employ a motivational perspective. In this thesis, this was done by placing the primary focus on Self-determination theory (SDT) as a person-centred approach to study the motivational mechanisms believed to impact exercise behaviour based on the SDT process model. Study 1, conducted in a cross-sectional design, included 1,091 members of a web-based exercise service. Based on sophisticated mediation analysis, the results support the hypothesized associations between latent constructs and exercise behaviour in the related steps of the SDT process model. Moreover, moderating effects were discovered, demonstrating that these associations could differ in different subgroups based on gender and age. The results of Study 1 thereby represent a first indication that exercise intervention design might benefit from slightly different approaches when addressing different demographical groups like gender and age. Study 2 was conducted in a two-wave RCT design to test an SDT-informed intervention on 64 voluntary participants. Components of Motivational interviewing (MI), the Relapse prevention model (RPM) and Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) were used as practical application guidelines to deliver the intervention content. Results showed intervention effects on exercise level, exercise intensity and motivation quality as well as mediating effects of the RAI (Relative Autonomy Index; an index of the degree of self-determination), and identified regulation in relation to exercise behaviour. The experimental group also demonstrated significantly lower levels of extrinsic motivation than the control group post-intervention. Besides strong support for applying the basic tenets of SDT in the exercise domain, there are some main findings in this thesis. First of all, self-determined motivation was found to act as a mediating variable in the relationship between psychological need satisfaction and exercise, and these patterns of indirect effects differed across age and gender. This indicates that mechanisms in the SDT process model could vary (qualitatively) depending on subgroup, which carries potential implications for practice. Second, the results of Study 2 also provide evidence that the mediating mechanisms of the process model could be manipulated in an intervention, e.g. by creating need-supportive environments facilitating internalization and subsequent exercise behaviour. Furthermore, both studies demonstrated that identified regulation plays a prominent role in the motivational processes, supporting the significance of promoting internalization in activities like exercise. Finally, this thesis represents prospective value for the utility of employing a polytheoretical approach in exercise intervention design, more specifically regarding the prosperous outlooks in combining SDT with other theories and methods. / Motion och fysisk aktivitet är multifacetterade beteenden som påverkas av komplexa samband mellan en mängd olika faktorer och ett sätt öka förståelsen för mekanismerna bakom hållbara motionsbeteenden är att studera motivationsrelaterade förhållanden och förutsättningar. Denna licentiatavhandling har därför en personcentrerad ansats som baseras på en deskriptiv processmodell som ingår i Självbestämmandeteorin (Self-determination theory; SDT). I Studie 1 genomfördes en tvärsnittsstudie på 1091 medlemmar i en web-baserad motionstjänst och avancerade medieringsanalyser genererade stöd för de hypotetiska relationerna mellan latenta variabler och motionsbeteende i processmodellen. Analyserna visade även modereringseffekter genom att dessa relationer skilde sig åt mellan grupper baserade på kön och ålder. Resultaten representerar därmed en första indikation på att utformandet av motionsinterventioner eventuellt kan gynnas av att anpassas till olika demografiska grupper, t ex baserat på kön och ålder. I Studie 2 genomfördes en intervention på 64 frivilliga deltagare i form av en RCT-design med två mätpunkter. Det SDT-baserade innehållet i interventionen förmedlades med hjälp av praktiska riktlinjer från metoderna Motiverande samtal (MI), Återfallsprevention (RPM) och Kognitiv beteendeterapi (CBT). Resultaten visade interventionseffekter på motionsbeteenden (mängd och intensitet), samt medieringseffekter av RAI (Relative Autonomy Index; ett index på graden av självbestämmande) och identifierad reglering i relation till motionsbeteende. Experimentgruppen uppvisade även lägre nivåer av yttre motivation än kontrollgruppen efter interventionen. Båda studierna är därmed i linje med det växande empiriska stödet för applicering av SDT inom motionsområdet och bidrar på flera sätt till kunskapsutvecklingen om motivationsrelaterade mekanismer. Det främsta bidraget är att självbestämmande motivation visade sig fungera som en medierande variabel i relationen mellan tillfredsställelse av psykologiska basbehov och motionsbeteende och att dessa latenta effekter skilde sig åt utifrån deltagarnas kön och ålder. Detta pekar på att mekanismerna i processmodellen kan variera i olika grupper, vilket skulle kunna påverka eventuella praktiska implikationer för framtida interventionsdesign. Vidare indikerar resultaten i Studie 2 att medieringsmekanismerna i processmodellen är möjliga att manipulera i en intervention, exempelvis genom att skapa stödjande miljöer som främjar internalisering och därigenom efterföljande motionsbeteenden. Båda studierna visar även att identifierad reglering har en viktig funktion i motivationsprocessen, vilket understryker betydelsen av att främja internalisering i aktiviteter som motion. Slutligen finns det argument för värdet av att anta en poly-teoretisk ansats i skapandet av motionsinterventioner, framförallt genom att kombinera SDT med andra teorier och metoder.

Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) has recently attracted the attention of many scholars, pundits and policy makers involved in regional studies, as a new industrial policy able to fill the gap between the weak capacity of Europe to innovate in comparison to its strong academic base and research institutions. S3 is described as a policy aimed to encourage structural changes, through the generation of new domains of opportunities, according to the strengths and potentialities of each region and therefore with a “place-based” outlook. Its primary element of novelty, in comparison to the previous policy approaches, is constituted by the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP), which represents the modality among institutions, firms, R&amp;D centres, universities, through which the direction(s) of the structural change is organised. To study S3, this Ph.D. thesis focuses on two pillars considered central to understand its rationales: relatedness and entrepreneurship. On one hand, the idea of relatedness is useful to understand the economic structure of a territory and its evolution through its network of connections, outlining possible areas of future development. On the other hand, entrepreneurship, somehow a missing dimension of S3, can be considered as part of the process of opportunity scanning to “challenge” inefficiencies of the society through new models of production and consumption, proactiveness of institutions, business development strategies of firms or cultural mindset of people. The aim of the thesis is to explore this relatedness-entrepreneurship relationship within S3, using a multi-level framework of analysis able to integrate the different aspects of the two concepts, providing theoretical and empirical advancements. The thesis is structured as follows: a general introduction on S3, three papers, which analyse Italy, focusing on the case of Tuscany and some final conclusions that sum up the findings of the papers and provide some further policy insights. The content of the three papers is reported hereinafter. In the first paper the analysis is conducted in the Italian provinces defining entrepreneurship as the creation of a new business and relatedness as one of the principal mechanisms that could explain the origin of innovation in connection with a given territorial knowledge base. The distinctiveness of this first paper seeds in the study of this relationship across individual industries, computing separate measures of external and internal relatedness across 27 sectors (among manufacturing and KIBS). The results suggest a broader and positive impact of external relatedness on the concentration of new firms at the territorial level in comparison to the impact of internal relatedness. The implications suggest that Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship can be included in the cognitive framework of S3 (newborns as expression of knowledge exchanged at the local level) and that innovation policies aimed to promote path creation should consider existent strengths of the territories. The second paper studies the EDP, integrating the concept of relatedness, useful in the initial phases of design and scoping, with the one of institutional entrepreneurship as an expression of the impact of agency in the micro-dynamics that rule the final outcome of innovation policies. This framework is applied to the case of Tuscany, using a mixed methodology. As a first picture of proximity connections between sectors of Tuscany, an original computation of the “Industry Space” of Tuscany is realised (using the methodology of Hidalgo et al., 2007). Then the Technological Districts’ managers and/or coordinators are interviewed, as a sort of fact checking with the Industry Space results, to understand how they define their planning strategies and through which mechanisms they integrate knowledge and combine firms and R&amp;D specialities. Results confirm the necessity to integrate the two concepts to obtain a more realistic “policy orientation map”, and the broader horizon released by relatedness if deeply analysed with case studies at a micro-level and if directly discussed with some central agents embedded in the regional network of proximities. The third paper studies the entrepreneurial styles (as real business men) and their ways of integrating and combining knowledge, adopting a micro interpretation on the concept of relatedness. The paper aims to identify what role can play these entrepreneurial figures as fundamental “micro pieces” in the scanning process of future opportunities of regional transformation promoted by S3. The methodology adopts a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews administered to a selected set of 24 entrepreneurs in Tuscany. The sample of the entrepreneurs, selected with a purposeful criterion, has been built thanks to the help of key informants. The gathered data are codified with the help of Gioia methodology, in order to derive some characteristics of the entrepreneur and the firms to describe some “emerging properties”. Then, a ladder of entrepreneurial typologies, able to group the specific characteristics derived from the interviews, is proposed. Results suggest a “distributed technology transfer model” as a complementary bottom up strategy to converge towards a new cyber-manufacturing regime of production.

Student engagement in academic work is critical for learning and scholastic achievement. Fortunately, an abundance of empirical evidence and engagement theories recommend what educational contexts are most likely to engage students in learning. Yet the epidemic of adolescent disengagement in schools suggests there is a gap, even a chasm, between student engagement research and practice. This study addresses this critical void in the literature; to understand how education theory can inform practice to improve the quality of student engagement in learning. I approached my research question, “How do secondary social studies teachers promote and sustain student engagement in academic work?” through the lens of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2002). Self-determination theory suggests that teachers’ support of students’ psychological needs for autonomy (e.g. by minimizing coercion, maximizing student voices and choices, providing meaningful rationales for learning), competence (e.g. by providing challenging work along with structures and feedback to promote self-efficacy), and relatedness (e.g. by developing warm and caring relationships in the classroom) facilitates and promotes student engagement. Using a multiple case study design, rich and varied data collection processes, and directed qualitative content analysis, I explored how social studies teachers may support (or thwart) their students’ needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. The students in this study confirmed their needs for autonomy, to engage in “real discussions” with their peers and make decisions about important problems. They shared that they engage in learning when activities are meaningful, real world and worth their effort. I found that social studies teachers support autonomy by developing students’ emotional, personal, social, conceptual and authentic connections to the content. In addition, I confirmed that warm and trusting classroom relationships, coupled with challenging, organized and structured learning experiences that promote student efficacy, support students’ needs for relatedness and competency in the classroom. Accordingly, engaging students in academic work necessitates that teachers meet all three of these basic needs. By exploring engagement through the experiences of teachers and students in real classroom settings, I provide social studies educators with a rich and user-friendly understanding of how student engagement can be developed and sustained.

With the continuing growth of consumer participation in brand activities in social media, social media marketers and researchers have sought to tap into consumer engagement and relationship building by creating interpersonal social media environments that can facilitate consumers’ sense of belonging or social relatedness. Although consumer engagement and relationship building have become mainstream research topics in social media, little is known about which marketing efforts brands should undertake in order to engage various consumers who have different motivations to engage with brands. The purpose of this research was to explore the mechanism by which consumer motivations and perceptions of social relatedness influence consumer engagement and relationship building in the context of social media. Three studies were conducted to examine whether the extent to which consumers’ experience of social relatedness in social media moderates the effects of self-determination on consumer engagement (i.e., intrinsic motivation and future intention) and relational outcomes (i.e., satisfaction, affective commitment, control mutuality, competence trust, and benevolence/integrity trust). The findings consistently showed that consumers’ perceptions of the social relatedness they experienced within social media moderated the effect of self-determination on intrinsic motivation and affective commitment. Specifically, the positive influence of social relatedness on consumers’ intrinsic motivation and affective commitment to brand activities was greater for consumers with a low level of self-determination than for those who were motivated by a high level of self-determination. Consumers with low levels of self-determination yielded greater intrinsic motivation and affective commitment when they experienced high perceived social relatedness than when they perceived low perceived relatedness. However, among brand followers in social media, the consumer self-determination × social relatedness interaction effects on the relational outcomes were greater for those who were high in self-determination than for those who were low in self-determination. Overall, this research highlights the importance of fulfilling consumers’ need for social relatedness in the context of social media, especially for those who are motivated to engage in brand activities via external factors. Further, findings of this research yield insights into segmenting consumers based on the level of consumer self-determination and consumer type. / text