Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-26T18:55:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Leonice.pdf: 133859 bytes, checksum: f76fd4ea314f1866f9aa2bbb11079d19 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-23 / The study of Calliphoridae and Muscidae biodiversity in the garbage dump of Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil, was carried out between March, 2006 and March, 2007. To that purpose, six traps made of plastic bottles with 2 L capacity, and containing bovine liver as attractive, were placed around the garbage discarding site. The total of Calliphoridae captured was 44,688. Chrysomya megacephala was the most frequent species (93.61%; n= 41,833) of fly, with significant differences (p<0.05) between C. megacephala and C. albiceps (1.50%; n= 672) and C. putoria (0.79%; n= 352). There was influence of temperature and of rainfall on the C. megacephala population. In the coldest months, the capture of flies, especially C. albiceps e de C. putoria was extremely low. Regarding the Muscidae family, 1307 individuals were captured. Musca domestica was the most frequent species (99.6%; n= 1,302). The other 0.4% (n= 5) corresponded to Ophyra aenescens. The highest number of Muscidae was observed in the summer and in the springer. Thus, it is concluded that the garbage site of Presidente Prudente is an environment that gives conditions to maintenance of Calliphoridae and Muscidae, especially C. megacephala. / Estudou-se a biodiversidade de califorídeos e muscídeos no lixão de Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brasil, no período de março de 2006 a março de 2007. Para esse propósito, seis armadilhas com garrafas tipo pet de 2 litros, contendo como atrativo fígado bovino, foram alocadas ao redor do lixão. Foram capturadas 44.688 califorídeos, com maior freqüência das espécies Chrysomya megacephala (93,61%; n= 41.833), seguindo-se de C. albiceps (1,5%; n= 672) e C. putoria (0,79%; n= 352), com diferença significativa entre a primeira e as demais espécies (p<0,05). Houve influência da temperatura e da precipitação pluviométrica na sazonalidade de C. megacephala, com maiores capturas nos meses quentes e chuvosos (p<0,05). Nos meses frios, a captura das moscas, especialmente de C. albiceps e de C. putoria foi praticamente ausente. No caso dos muscídeos, capturou-se 1.307 espécimes, sendo que a espécie Musca domestica representou 99,6% (n= 1.302) e a espécie Ophyra aenescens 0,4% (n= 5), havendo maior incidência no verão, seguido da primavera, outono e inverno. Dessa forma, conclui-se que o depósito de lixo urbano de Presidente Prudente oferece condições para a manutenção de moscas varejeiras, especialmente C. megacephala, e de mosca doméstica.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-18T17:53:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Leonice.pdf: 133859 bytes, checksum: f76fd4ea314f1866f9aa2bbb11079d19 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-23 / The study of Calliphoridae and Muscidae biodiversity in the garbage dump of Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil, was carried out between March, 2006 and March, 2007. To that purpose, six traps made of plastic bottles with 2 L capacity, and containing bovine liver as attractive, were placed around the garbage discarding site. The total of Calliphoridae captured was 44,688. Chrysomya megacephala was the most frequent species (93.61%; n= 41,833) of fly, with significant differences (p<0.05) between C. megacephala and C. albiceps (1.50%; n= 672) and C. putoria (0.79%; n= 352). There was influence of temperature and of rainfall on the C. megacephala population. In the coldest months, the capture of flies, especially C. albiceps e de C. putoria was extremely low. Regarding the Muscidae family, 1307 individuals were captured. Musca domestica was the most frequent species (99.6%; n= 1,302). The other 0.4% (n= 5) corresponded to Ophyra aenescens. The highest number of Muscidae was observed in the summer and in the springer. Thus, it is concluded that the garbage site of Presidente Prudente is an environment that gives conditions to maintenance of Calliphoridae and Muscidae, especially C. megacephala. / Estudou-se a biodiversidade de califorídeos e muscídeos no lixão de Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brasil, no período de março de 2006 a março de 2007. Para esse propósito, seis armadilhas com garrafas tipo pet de 2 litros, contendo como atrativo fígado bovino, foram alocadas ao redor do lixão. Foram capturadas 44.688 califorídeos, com maior freqüência das espécies Chrysomya megacephala (93,61%; n= 41.833), seguindo-se de C. albiceps (1,5%; n= 672) e C. putoria (0,79%; n= 352), com diferença significativa entre a primeira e as demais espécies (p<0,05). Houve influência da temperatura e da precipitação pluviométrica na sazonalidade de C. megacephala, com maiores capturas nos meses quentes e chuvosos (p<0,05). Nos meses frios, a captura das moscas, especialmente de C. albiceps e de C. putoria foi praticamente ausente. No caso dos muscídeos, capturou-se 1.307 espécimes, sendo que a espécie Musca domestica representou 99,6% (n= 1.302) e a espécie Ophyra aenescens 0,4% (n= 5), havendo maior incidência no verão, seguido da primavera, outono e inverno. Dessa forma, conclui-se que o depósito de lixo urbano de Presidente Prudente oferece condições para a manutenção de moscas varejeiras, especialmente C. megacephala, e de mosca doméstica.

A bluff-body has been employed as the flame stabilization scheme for many combustion devices such as gas turbines and aviation engines. Although the bluff-body flame holder has a key advantage of generating a hot gas recirculation zone behind it and assist in stable combustion, it also induces flow field and combustion instabilities such as unstable vortex shedding, which can adversely affect the flame stability and lead to blow-off. The understanding of the physical mechanism of flame stabilization and blow-off processes has been one of the critical subjects in premixed combustion systems under highly turbulent conditions. As considering this, the present dissertation presents insight of flame stabilization and blow-off mechanisms using several series of computational studies and detailed analysis using diagnostic approaches. Two-dimensional direct numerical simulations are conducted to examine flame/flow and blow-off dynamics in lean premixed hydrogen-air and syngas-air flames stabilized on a meso-scale bluff-body in a square channel. Several distinct effects on flame stabilization and blow-off dynamics are investigated, such as reduced confinement, hydrodynamic instability, flame time scale, and differential diffusion effects. For the analysis, a proper time scale analysis is attempted to characterize the flame blow-off mechanism, which turns out to be consistent with the classic blow-off theory of Zukoski and Marble. The combined approach of computational singular perturbation and tangential stretch rate is applied to examine chemical characteristics in blow-off dynamics. As an extension from Eulerian to Lagrangian viewpoint, Lagrangian particle tracking analysis of post-processing the pre-computed results is performed to examine the local characteristics during the critical transient event of local extinction and recovery.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Chromosomal mechanisms of sex determination vary greatly in phylogenetically closely related species, indicative of rapid evolutionary rates. Sex chromosome karyotypes are generally conserved within families; however, many species have derived sex chromosome configurations. Insects display a plethora of sex chromosome systems due to rapid diversification caused by changes in evolutionary processes within and between species. A good example of such a system are insects in the blow fly family Calliphoridae. While cytogenetic studies observe that the karyotype in blow flies is highly conserved (five pairs of autosomal chromosomes and one pair sex chromosome), there is variation in sex determining mechanisms and sex chromosome structure within closely related species in blow flies. The evolutionary history of sex chromosomes in blow fly species have not been fully explored. Therefore, the objective of this research was to characterize the sex chromosome structures in four species of blow flies and investigate the selective forces which have played a role in shaping the diverse sex chromosome system observed in blow flies. The blow fly species used in this study are Phormia regina, Lucilia cuprina, Chrysomya rufifacies and Chrysomya albiceps. Phormia regina,and Lucilia cuprina have a heteromorphic sex chromosome system and are amphogenic (females produce both male and female offspring in equal ratio). In contrast, Chrysomya rufifacies and Chrysomya albiceps, have a homomorphic sex chromosome system, are monogenic (females produce unisexual progeny), have two types of females (arrhenogenic females – male producers and thelygenic females – female producers), and sex of the offspring is determined by the maternal genotype. To accomplish these tasks, a total of nine male and female individual draft genomes for each of the four species (including three individual draft genomes of Chrysomya rufifacies – male, and the two females) were sequenced and assembled providing genomic data to explore sex chromosome evolution in blow flies. Whole genome analysis was utilized to characterize and identify putative sex chromosomal sequences of the four blow fly species. Genomic evidence confirmed the presence of genetically differentiated sex chromosomes in P. regina and L. cuprina; and genetically undifferentiated sex chromosomes in C. rufifacies and C. albiceps. Furthermore, comparative analysis of the ancestral Dipteran sex chromosome (Muller element F in Drosophila) was determined to be X-linked in P. regina and L. cuprina contributing to sex chromosome differentiation but not sex-linked in C. rufifacies and C. albiceps. Evolutionary pressures are often quantified by the ratio of substitution rates at non-synonymous (dN) and synonymous (dS) sites. Substitution rate ratio analysis (dN/dS) of homologous genes indicated a weaker purifying selection may have contributed to the loss of sex-linked genes in Muller element F genes of the undifferentiated sex chromosome as compared to the differentiated sex chromosome system. Overall, the results presented herein greatly expands our knowledge in sex chromosome evolution within blow flies and will reinforce the study of sex chromosome evolution in other species with diverse sex chromosome systems.

<p>  </p> <p>Blow flies are often utilized in the field of forensic science due to their ability to aid in the estimation of time since death. Currently, estimations of postmortem interval require assumptions to be made and are prone to a margin of error, prompting research that may contribute to more accurate postmortem interval estimations and help to fill in the gaps of unknown information. Blow flies are necrophagous, feeding on feces and carrion, and therefore, are constantly sampling the environment. This behavior can be exploited in order to monitor the biodiversity in an environment. Through analysis of DNA isolated from the guts of blow flies, information can be obtained regarding what animals have died in an environment, what animals are still living in that environment, and the abundance and diversity of the animals present in a specific environment. Using fly-derived ingested DNA is a viable method for vertebrate resource identification and biodiversity monitoring. Over the course of a two-summer sampling period, in and around two national parks, a total of 162 blow fly (<em>Phormia regina</em>) samples returned a positive vertebrate DNA identification, with 33 species identified from five animal orders. Of the total number of flies collected and analyzed, 23.58% returned a positive vertebrate species identification. The method detected both abundant and common species based on National Park surveys, as well as some uncommon or unknown to the park species. In the SE region, 9 individuals belonging to the Rodentia order, 12 individuals belonging to the Artiodactyla order, 21 individuals belonging to the Carnivora order, 1 individual belonging to the Cingulata order, and 3 individuals belonging to the Lagomorph order were detected. In the SE region, 63% of the individuals detected belonged to the common category, 14% of the individuals detected belonged to the uncommon category, and 23% of the individuals detected belonged to the not in park/unknown category. In the NW region, 42 individuals belonging to the Rodentia order, 46 individuals belonging to the Artiodactyla order, and 28 individuals belonging to the Carnivora order were detected. In the NW region, 52% of the individuals detected belonged to the abundant category, 36% of the individuals detected belonged to the common category, and 12% of the individuals detected belonged to the uncommon category. The relative biodiversity of the sampled environment can be inferred. In the SE region, the Shannon Biodiversity Index was calculated to be 2.28 with an evenness of 0.844, while in the NW region, the Shannon Biodiversity Index was calculated to be 2.79 with an evenness of 0.855. Unsurprisingly, there was greater biodiversity in the Northwest Park samples than in the Southeast Park samples. Additionally, the ideal weather conditions for blow fly collection were determined be at a temperature of between 60- and 80-degrees Fahrenheit, a relative humidity between 50% and 60%, no precipitation, and a wind speed between 2 and 8 miles per hour. This information has further implications in the field of forensic science, specifically dealing with wildlife forensics, pathogen distributions, and can help to improve accuracy in regards to postmortem interval (PMI) estimations. </p> <p>  </p>

No description available.

No description available.

Motivated by the results concerning the regularity of solutions to the fractional Navier-Stokes system and questions about the influence of noise on the formation of singularities in hydrodynamic models, we have explored these two problems in the context of the fractional 1D Burgers equation. First, we performed highly accurate numerical computations to characterize the dependence of the blow-up time on the the fractional dissipation exponent in the supercritical regime. The problem was solved numerically using a pseudospectral method where integration in time was performed using a hybrid method combining the Crank-Nicolson and a three-step Runge-Kutta techniques. A highlight of this approach is automated resolution refinement. The blow-up time was estimated based on the time evolution of the enstrophy (H1 seminorm) and the width of the analyticity strip. The consistency of the obtained blow-up times was verified in the limiting cases. In the second part of the thesis we considered the fractional Burgers equation in the presence of suitably colored additive noise. This problem was solved using a stochastic Runge-Kutta method where the stochastic effects were approximated using a Monte-Carlo method. Statistic analysis of ensembles of stochastic solutions obtained for different noise magnitudes indicates that as the noise amplitude increases the distribution of blow-up times becomes non-Gaussian. In particular, while for increasing noise levels the mean blow-up time is reduced as compared to the deterministic case, solutions with increased existence time also become more likely. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Blow flies are often utilized in the field of forensic science due to their ability to aid in the estimation of time since death. Currently, estimations of postmortem interval require assumptions to be made and are prone to a margin of error, prompting research that may contribute to more accurate postmortem interval estimations and help to fill in the gaps of unknown information. Blow flies are necrophagous, feeding on feces and carrion, and therefore, are constantly sampling the environment. This behavior can be exploited in order to monitor the biodiversity in an environment. Through analysis of DNA isolated from the guts of blow flies, information can be obtained regarding what animals have died in an environment, what animals are still living in that environment, and the abundance and diversity of the animals present in a specific environment. Using fly-derived ingested DNA is a viable method for vertebrate resource identification and biodiversity monitoring. Over the course of a two-summer sampling period, in and around two national parks, a total of 162 blow fly (Phormia regina) samples returned a positive vertebrate DNA identification, with 33 species identified from five animal orders. Of the total number of flies collected and analyzed, 23.58% returned a positive vertebrate species identification. The method detected both abundant and common species based on National Park surveys, as well as some uncommon or unknown to the park species. In the SE region, 9 individuals belonging to the Rodentia order, 12 individuals belonging to the Artiodactyla order, 21 individuals belonging to the Carnivora order, 1 individual belonging to the Cingulata order, and 3 individuals belonging to the Lagomorph order were detected. In the SE region, 63% of the individuals detected belonged to the common category, 14% of the individuals detected belonged to the uncommon category, and 23% of the individuals detected belonged to the not in park/unknown category. In the NW region, 42 individuals belonging to the Rodentia order, 46 individuals belonging to the Artiodactyla order, and 28 individuals belonging to the Carnivora order were detected. In the NW region, 52% of the individuals detected belonged to the abundant category, 36% of the individuals detected belonged to the common category, and 12% of the individuals detected belonged to the uncommon category. The relative biodiversity of the sampled environment can be inferred. In the SE region, the Shannon Biodiversity Index was calculated to be 2.28 with an evenness of 0.844, while in the NW region, the Shannon Biodiversity Index was calculated to be 2.79 with an evenness of 0.855. Unsurprisingly, there was greater biodiversity in the Northwest Park samples than in the Southeast Park samples. Additionally, the ideal weather conditions for blow fly collection were determined be at a temperature of between 60- and 80-degrees Fahrenheit, a relative humidity between 50% and 60%, no precipitation, and a wind speed between 2 and 8 miles per hour. This information has further implications in the field of forensic science, specifically dealing with wildlife forensics, pathogen distributions, and can help to improve accuracy in regards to postmortem interval (PMI) estimations.

<p dir="ltr"><i>Phormia regina</i> Meigen is a forensically relevant species of blow fly, common in North America and used to estimate the minimum postmortem interval in forensic casework. It is also possible to use blow flies to survey the environment for biotic and abiotic information drawn from both larval and adult stages. There are both forensic and environmental uses for genetic analysis of blow flies. Blow fly kinship is especially useful for detecting postmortem movement of a corpse or to assess abundance of carrion in a given location. To test genetic relationships between individuals, discriminatory loci such as microsatellites, or polymorphic tandemly repeated sequences of DNA are necessary. Here, we characterize novel microsatellites generated from the genome of <i>P. regina</i>. Thirty-four candidate polymorphic loci with conserved flanking regions, have been isolated. To date, seven are heterozygous and polymorphic testing in two lab populations and one wild population. The simple sequence repeats characterized here complement existing loci (N = 6) for greater discrimination for testing relationships between individual flies.</p>