Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-126).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Political Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-167).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill., 1997. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-173).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-67). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 2006. / Supervisor: Ellen Lewin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-273).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-207).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-05Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:00:40Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 mendonca_fz_dr_jabo.pdf: 252500 bytes, checksum: 408129aa472ebef8a56e9b0e9cee1ef9 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / Tilápia-do-nilo, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758), é uma das espécies de peixes que utilizam o substrato para construir ninho. Porém, muitas vezes são mantidas em tanques ou aquários sem substrato. Em estudo anterior, foi verificado que a presença de substrato reduz o desenvolvimento das gônadas, aumenta a agressividade, mas não afeta o crescimento. Assim, foi avaliada a escolha do peixe por diferentes substratos (areia, areia + concha, pedra e vazio – sem substrato removível) para medir o bem-estar e o efeito de tais substratos no comportamento reprodutivo e agressivo da tilápia-do-nilo. Os objetivos deste trabalho foram: testar a escolha de substrato para a construção de ninho na tilápia-do-nilo (Estudo I); testar o efeito do substrato sobre o desempenho reprodutivo (freqüência e latência para construção de ninho, freqüência e latência para a desova e índice gonadossomático) e indicadores bioenergéticos (taxa de crescimento específico e índice hepatossomático) (Estudo II); e testar o efeito do tipo de substrato no desafio social por meio dos níveis de esteróides sexuais (testosterona (T) e 11-cetotestosterona (11KT)), e no cortisol plasmático como um indicador de estresse (Estudo III). A escolha de substrato foi testada em grupos (1 macho e 2 fêmeas) formados por animais adultos. Os machos escolheram o substrato de areia para a construção do ninho. Os indicadores reprodutivos e bioenergéticos também foram avaliados nos mesmos substratos utilizados no Estudo I, mas cada tipo de substrato foi colocado em aquários separados, consistindo 4 tratamentos. Em cada réplica foram utilizados 2 machos e 3 fêmeas, mantidos durante 12 dias ou até 48 horas após a primeira desova. A freqüência de desova foi maior no substrato de areia do que no sem substrato removível. Já a freqüência de construção de ninho, foi menor no substrato... / The Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758), is one of fish species which use build nest on bottom substrate. However this species are usually reared in tanks or aquarium without substrate. We verified the influence of substrate on reducing of gonad development, enhance aggressiveness, but growth is not affected. Thus, we tested the fish choice for different substrates (sand, sand + shell, stone and empty - without substrate) in order to access welfare and the effects of such substrates on reproductive and aggressive behavior of Nile tilapia. Our goals in this study were: test the substrate choice to nest building (Study I); test the substrate effect on the reproductive fitness (frequency and latency to nest building, frequency and latency to spawning and gonadossomatic index) and on the bioenergetic indicators (specific growth rate and hepatossomatic index) (Study II); and test the influence of substrate type on the social challenge by analyzing sexual steroid levels (testosterone (T) and 11 – ketotestosterone (11KT)), and serum cortisol as a stress indicator (Study III). The substrate choice was tested in groups made by 1 male and 2 females adult fish. Sand substrate was significantly chosen by males to built nest. The reproductive and bioenergetics indicators were also evaluated for the same substrate used in the Study I, but each substrate type was kept in separated aquaria, performing 4 treatments. Groups of 2 males and 3 females were kept until 12 days or until 48 hours after the first spawning. The frequency of spawning was higher in the sand substrate than in no substrate treatment. The frequency of nesting was lower in the stone substrate than in sand and sand + shell substrates. The others reproductive and energetic indicators were similar between the treatments. The social contest and hormone levels were tested in the four substrates used in the former experiments... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Denmark is a major exporter of both anonymous and identity-release donor sperm worldwide, and is home to one the world's largest sperm bank networks. The country's legal framework allows for sperm donors to make the choice whether to be anonymous or to release their identity to potential offspring, in contrast to the majority of European countries which require either anonymity or identity-release donation. As such, it represents a chance for researchers to draw comparisons between donors who have explicitly made these different choices. This thesis draws on data from thirteen in-depth semi-structured interviews carried out with donors at a major Danish sperm bank. I suggest that neither the traditional ‘beer money for the weekend’ nor the currently-popular ‘wanting to help’ narrative of sperm donation tells the full story; the experiences of these donors cannot be expressed fully using an altruistic gifting model, but neither are they fully captured in terms of the capitalist exchange of labour; as ‘help’ or as ‘work’. Donor virility, and by extension masculinity, is represented through sperm quality and the discourse of “good sperm”, which then explicitly informs donor payment, complicating the relationship between donors’ embodied experience, their pride in their ‘product’ and the various ways in which semen as a substance is understood: “good sperm” could make a donor into a ‘good guy’ who could help with the falling national birth count, whereas sperm that was “bad” could be reframed as the product of donors’ lifestyles or as ‘good soldiers’ fighting against the freezing process. Donor accounts of sperm donation were also informed by the wider web of connections that are formed through the process of sperm donation: real, potential, or imagined connections between donor and offspring, donor and their imagined ‘good’ recipient, offspring and donor families, and donors and the wider Danish nation in terms of the production of so-called ‘Viking sperm’ and the extension of the ‘help’ discourse through the falling Danish sperm count.

Background: Peru has increased substantially its domestic public expenditure in maternal and child health. Peruvian departments are heterogeneous in contextual and geographic factors, underlining the importance of disaggregated expenditure analysis up to the district level. We aimed to assess possible district level factors influencing public expenditure on reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health (RMNCH) in Peru. Methods: We performed an ecological study in 24 departments, with specific RMNCH expenditure indicators as outcomes, and covariates of different hierarchical dimensions as predictors. To account for the influence of variables included in the different dimensions over time and across departments, we chose a stepwise multilevel mixed-effects regression model, with department-year as the unit of analysis. Results: Public expenditure increased in all departments, particularly for maternal-neonatal and child health activities, with a different pace across departments. The multilevel analysis did not reveal consistently influential factors, except for previous year expenditure on reproductive and maternal-neonatal health. Our findings may be explained by a combination of inertial expenditure, a results-based budgeting approach to increase expenditure efficiency and effectiveness, and by a mixed-effects decentralization process. Sample size, interactions and collinearity cannot be ruled out completely. Conclusions: Public district-level RMNCH expenditure has increased remarkably in Peru. Evidence on underlying factors influencing such trends warrants further research, most likely through a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. / This work was funded through a sub-grant from the U.S. Fund for UNICEF under the Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn and Child Survival grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and through a sub-grant from the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health. / Revisión por pares / Revisión por pares

Understanding the genetics underlying the speciation process has been a long-standing goal of evolutionary biology. Studying inter-population crosses can elucidate the genetic architecture of reproductive isolation and, ultimately, the process of speciation. Hybridization between two species is often maladaptive and results in offspring with decreased fitness compared to the parental forms. Recently, with the development of molecular and genomic tools, it has become possible to understand how and when reproductive isolation arises and what are the underlying mechanisms in the evolution of genetic incompatibilities. Heliconius is a genus of neotropical butterfly best know for their Müllerian mimicry. Here I focus on Heliconius cydno and Heliconius melpomene, two hybridising sympatric species with low levels of inter-specific hybridisation that nonetheless results in genome-wide signatures of admixture. I show that hybrids develop ovarian tissue and, occasionally, oocytes; and use genomic approaches to examine several potential mechanisms underlying post-zygotic isolation between H. cydno and H. melpomene. Firstly, I investigate evolution by gene duplication and identify loci putatively under divergent selection that may play a role in species divergence and speciation. Secondly, I quantify sexually dimorphic expression in H. melpomene, and calculate rates of molecular evolution between H. melpomene and H. erato. Thirdly, I identify differentially expressed genes in the H. cydno x H. melpomene F1 hybrids that may be involved in the species barrier. Finally, investigate whether epigenetic silencing mechanisms could underlie post-zygotic isolation between H. cydno and H. melpomene by quantifying transposable element expression and small RNAs. Overall, I identify loci that merit further investigation for their potential in maintaining reproductive barriers between these two species. I show that different regions of the genome evolve at different molecular rates but there is no faster-Z effect, and consider how might this affect evolution of reproductive isolation. Finally, I show that aberrant epigenetic silencing, a mechanism behind hybrid sterility that is common in other species, is not correlated with post-zygotic isolation between H. cydno and H. melpomene.