Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography : leaves 353-355.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Zoology and Entomology))--Rhodes University, 2006.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006.

Thesis (M.S.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 23, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-06-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:48:42Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 traficante_dp_me_jabo.pdf: 1568154 bytes, checksum: e9230b2e4ff60845b3fe6ffebb26eea6 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / O município de Botucatu está localizado na região centro-sul do Estado de São Paulo, a 230 km da capital, com altitudes variando de 400 a 950 metros. Essa geomorfologia propicia a formação de quedas d’água, cujo relevo chamado “Cuesta” é divisor de águas entre a Bacia do Rio Paranapanema e a Bacia do Rio Tietê. É na microbacia do Alto Rio Capivara (Bacia do Tietê) onde está situado o Parque Natural Municipal Cachoeira da Marta, Unidade de Conservação de Proteção Integral, conhecido como “Parque da Marta”, tendo como principal atrativo a Cachoeira da Marta (38 metros de queda d’água), sendo um local muito procurado para a prática de atividades de lazer e ecoturismo. A Cachoeira é abastecida pelas águas do Córrego do Roseira, tendo como principal afluente o Córrego do Canela, que ao se juntarem, formam o Rio Capivara. O presente estudo teve como objetivos avaliar as condições limnológicas de balneabilidade da Cachoeira da Marta em interface com as possíveis fontes potenciais de poluição para propor medidas de recuperação e conservação através da analise dos parâmetros físico-químicos (TºC da água, pH, Condutividade elétrica, Oxigênio dissolvido, Nitrogênio total e Fósforo total) e microbiológicos (Coliformes totais e termotolerantes). As coletas de água foram bimensais durante 12 meses, de Junho/2009 a Maio/2010, em 5 pontos amostrais diferentes, sendo 3 pontos (P1, P2 e P3) no Córrego do Roseira, 1 ponto na junção dos Córregos do Roseira e Canela (P4) e 1 ponto no Córrego do Canela (P5). Os P2, P3 e P4 se localizavam dento do Parque da Marta. Para a comparação das médias nos pontos amostrais foi realizada a analise de variância (ANOVA) seguidas do Teste de Tukey (Tukey’s Studentized Range – HSD) para as variáveis que apresentaram distribuição normal e o teste não paramétrico de Kruskal-Wallis para as variáveis... / Botucatu is a municipality located in the central south region of Sao Paulo State, 230 km away from de the capital at altitudes ranging from 400 to 950 meters. The landforms in this region favor the formation of waterfalls; the relief, called “Cuesta” is a water divisor for the watersheds of Paranapanema and Tiete Rivers. In the micro-watershed of Capivara Highest River (Tiete watershed) is located the Marta’s Waterfall Natural Park, a protected area, know as “Marta’s Park”, where the Marta’s waterfall (38 meters by heigh) is the principal atractive and have been searched for tourism and leisure activities. The waterfall is supply by the Roseira River and his principal tributary is the Canela River and when they to join up, they transformer in the Capivara River. This study aimed to evaluate the limnological conditions for the bathing water quality by the Marta’s Waterfall associated with the possible potential source by pollution and suggest conservation and recovery measures through the physicochemical (water temperature (ºC), pH, eletric condutivity, dissolved oxigen, total nitrogen, total phosporus) and microbiological parameters (total and thermotolerants coliforms). The water samples were bimonthly collected for 12 months, between June/2009 ande May/2010, in different sites over the streams , in 5 diffrents collections sites, 3 sites (P1, P2 e P3) are inside in Roseira River, 1 site in the joiing at Roseira and Canela Rivers (P4) e 1 site located in Canela River (P5). For comparison of medias in the collections sites was realized the variance analisys (ANOVA) followed by the Tukey’s Studentized Range (HSD) for the medias that showed normal distribution and the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test for the medias that doesn’t showed normal distribuition, both in the 5% significance level. In the collection sites 1 and 5 were founded medias for dissolved oxigen... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

M.Sc. (Geography) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M. Tech. / Diarrhoeal disease is an important public health problem worldwide as it is responsible for approximately 4 billion cases of diarrhoea per annum, of which 1.8 billion cases result in death. In most cases the causative agents are bacterial entero-pathogens such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella, Shigella and Vibrio species. They enter the human body after consumption of contaminated water and food via the faecal-oral route of transmission. These pathogens are therefore identified from faecal matter with microbiological methods such as culture based techniques. There are however certain factors which negatively impact on the diagnosis. Recent literature has shown that bacterial pathogens may not be detected when they enter into a viable but non-culturable state (VBNC) making it difficult to detect the bacterial pathogens with culture based methods. The aim of the study was to detect entero-pathogenic bacteria from stool specimens using optimised protocols and a novel collection technique called the Bio-wipe kit. In the past sterile containers were used to collect and transport faecal matter to the WHRU laboratory for analysis. The disadvantage of this collection technique was that individuals were hesitant to provide faecal matter in a transparent container due to their social and moral status. The Bio-wipe kit eliminated some of the problems encountered with the previous collection technique as it is used in the same way as toilet tissue. Factors such as storage time and temperature was investigated for the recovery of faecal matter from the Bio-wipes since it was used in rural villages where the stool samples can not be refrigerated and transported to the lab immediately after the diarrhoeal episode. It was shown that the bacterial DNA can be recovered from the Bio-wipes within 5-10 days after usage when stored at 30°C and within 14 days after usage when stored at ambient temperature. Comparison of two in-house DNA extraction methods with the commercially available QIAamp® DNA stool mini kit indicated that the Guanidium thiocyanate without alpha casein method (GuSCN non ά-casein) could efficiently recover bacterial DNA from faecal matter free from the presence of inhibitors. This methodology could successfully recover amplifiable bacterial DNA in 92% (181/197) of the clinical Bio-wipes collected from individuals in the rural areas of the Vhembe region of the Limpopo province of South Africa. Various multiplex PCR’s (m-PCR) were optimised for this study for the detection and classification of diarrhoeagenic E. coli types, Salmonella, Shigella and Vibrio species. These m-PCR’s were proven to be very sensitive at detecting diarrhoegenic E.coli, Salmonella, Shigella and Vibrio species bacteria from the Bio-wipes. The extracted bacterial DNA from Bio-wipes recovered from clinical samples was amplified with the single genus specific multiplex PCR and 92% (181/197) of the samples tested positive for the E. coli mdh housekeeping gene, 3% (7/197) tested positive for the sodB housekeeping gene for V. cholerae spp, 5% (10/197) tested positive for the IpaH and Ial virulence genes for Shigella spp. and entero-invasive E. coli (EIEC) whereas none of the samples tested positive for the Salmonella virulence gene (IpaB). These results were confirmed with species specific multiplex PCR for each pathogen. It was concluded from this study that the Bio-wipe kit could be used for the collection of diarrhoeal and non-diarrhoeal faecal matter. The bacterial DNA could effectively be isolated from the recovered faecal matter using the GuSCN non α-casein DNA extraction method. The genus specific m-PCR was able to amplify low levels of bacterial DNA isolated from the Bio-wipes and thus the causative agents for diarrhoeal disease can successfully be diagnosed with the genus specific m-PCR. The Bio-wipe kit can be implemented for routine analysis and during diarrhoeal outbreaks as it is a cost effective, easy to use collection kit. The bacterial pathogens can easily and rapidly be diagnosed using the optimised molecular techniques instead of classical culture-based techniques.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority routinely uses the South African Scoring System version 4 (SASS4) in conjunction with water chemistry to monitor water quality of rivers in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project areas. The objective of this study was to test the efficiency of SASS4 in these areas. / South Africa

When estimating economic value associated with changes in water quality, recreation demand models typically depend upon either (i) biophysical measures of water quality as collected by natural scientists or (ii) the perception of water quality by recreationists. Models based upon biophysical metrics (such as oxygen concentration, pollutant concentrations, Secchi depth measurements, etc.) operate on the assumption that people can perceive and respond to these metrics, or respond to factors that are, indeed, correlated with the biophysical measure. Economists have often estimated willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures associated with unit changes in biophysical measures without examining the degree to which the measures are truly correlated with perceptions. Recreation demand models that are based upon respondents’ perceptions of water quality necessarily assume that perceptions correlate well with the measures used by scientists to evaluate water quality. Again, WTP for unit changes in perceptions have been estimated without examining the relationship to the underlying biophysical measures. The relationship between biophysical metrics and perceptions is rarely addressed, yet it has profound implications for water quality management and policy. Consider a federal or state agency wishing to manage the quality of its waters in an economically efficient way. Through mandated water quality monitoring regulations, an agency may have many years of biophysical measurements, but these measures are in no way linked to people’s perceptions of water quality and, thus, to WTP. Using biophysical measures of water quality and recreation use data recently collected in Utah, this study links technical measures of water quality at a water body to survey respondents’ perceptions of water quality at the same site. This approach is akin to estimating an ecological production function wherein biophysical measures are “inputs” to water quality perceptions (the output). Truncated Negative Binomial models of water-based recreation are used to estimate welfare effects of changes in water quality as measured through (i) unit changes in biophysical measures, (ii) unit changes in perceptions, and (iii) unit changes in biophysical as they change perceptions through the ecological production function.