No / Several international organizations have suggested the need for disseminating existing evidence-based parenting interventions into low-resource settings of the world in order to prevent societal difficulties such as violence. Before dissemination efforts take place, it is important to examine the fit of existing interventions in these contexts. In the present study, 80 practitioners from low-resource communities in Panama, Central America, were surveyed in order to explore their views on materials, principles and strategies of an evidence-based parenting program, the Triple P Positive Parenting Program. This study is part of a larger project in which cultural relevance was also explored from parents’ perspective, instruments were translated and validated, and a RCT was carried out to determine efficacy. Practitioners in the present study were psychologists, teachers, social workers and learning disability specialists based in school settings. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data and regression analyses were carried out in order to determine whether socio-demographic variables predicted acceptability scores. Scores for cultural relevance and usefulness of the program were high. A sample of material was found to be interesting, familiar, and acceptable. All practitioners (100 %) expressed a need to implement a parenting program in their community. Only being female and greater hours of consultation per week were associated with greater acceptability. These results have the potential to inform implementation efforts in Panama and the study offers a methodology which can be used to explore the relevance of other programs in other low-resource settings.

The importance of abiotic influences on the strength of biotic interactions is largely unknown. To explain large annual fluctuations in the population size of the tropical lizard, Anolis limifrons, on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, I hypothesized that annual variation in lizard population size is the result of modifications in the rate of predation on lizard eggs by Solenopsis ants induced by annual variation in wet season rainfall. I tested this hypothesis by manipulating water availability on experimental plots to Simulate the wettest (HW) and driest (LW) wet seasons in the last twenty years. The mean time to find and attack eggs by Solenopsis ants was significantly shorter on HW plots (range=6.6-21.7 days) than LW plots (range=17.8-30.8 days). Exponential models that regressed time on the cumulative percent mortality indicated that 1) the rate of predation was 3-5 times faster on HW plots than LW plots and 2) the predicted mortality of lizard eggs during their 42 day incubation period was 82.2-95.7% on HW plots and 56.1-58.6% on LW plots. Thus, the amount of rainfall during the wet season affected the population size of A. limifrons by modifying the strength of the interaction between Solenopsis ants and the eggs of A. limifrons. / Master of Science

La thèse analyse, dans une perspective historique et comparative, le parcours suivi vers la citoyenneté sociale par les populations afro-descendantes d’Amérique centrale entre 1948 et 1966. Avec le système esclavagiste puis son abolition comme points de départ de la réflexion, les Africains et les Afro-descendants du monde entier ont commencé à systématiser leurs réflexions, leurs luttes et leur organisation, notamment au travers de personnalités comme Marcus Garvey ou d’organisations comme le Mouvement panafricaniste, afin de rejeter la stigmatisation apportée par l’invention coloniale de la « race noire ». Ce processus s’est initié entre la Première Guerre mondiale et l’émergence du système des Nations unies, qui a fourni la base d’un nouvel ordre international, se traduisant notamment par la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme et le début de la décolonisation en Afrique. Après les indépendances centraméricaines au début du XIXe siècle et au cours des processus de construction républicaine à l’oeuvre dans chacun des pays de la région, le développement national au Guatemala, au Honduras, au Nicaragua, au Costa Rica et au Panama a toutefois été marqué par l’empreinte identitaire laissée par la Couronne espagnole dans la région ainsi que par des politiques de métissage et/ou de blanchiment de la population. À partir de la deuxième partie du XIXe siècle, la vague d’immigration d’origine africaine en provenance des Caraïbes a remis en question cet imaginaire collectif et l’idée de citoyenneté portée par les élites de chaque pays. Si la question normative de la citoyenneté afro-descendante en Amérique centrale s’est donc longtemps inscrite dans un contexte international d’exclusion raciale, qui renvoie notamment au système de ségrégation aux États-Unis, le développement progressif de dispositifs légaux dans chaque pays a ouvert une nouvelle ère d’intégration citoyenne après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, faisant écho aux nouveaux instruments juridiques internationaux et à la Charte internationale des droits de l’homme. / The thesis analyzes, through comparative and historical perspectives, the path followed by theAfrodescendant populations in Central America, between 1948 and 1966, towards social citizenship. Having theslavery system and its latter abolition as a starting point, the African and Afrodescendant populations around theworld systematized their thoughts, battles and organization, especially through personalities such as Marcus Garveyand the Pan Africanist Movement; as means to counteract the burden created by the colonial invention of the “blackrace”. This process had place when the World War I and the United Nations System provided the base for a newinternational order; which after World War II, turned into creating the Organization of United Nations, the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights and the beginning of decolonization in Africa. In addition, after the Central AmericanIndependence and in the middle of their republican construction, the differentiated national development followed byGuatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, took over the identity footprint institutionalized by theSpanish crown in the region; which afterwards turned into the miscegenation and/or population whitening. However,the wave of Caribbean Afrodescendant immigration from the second half of the nineteenth century, confronted thecollective imaginary as well as the citizen profile chosen by each of these country elites. Therefore, the singularnormative and social citizenship progress of the Afrodescendant populations in Central America, fell within theinternational racial exclusion context, such as United States’ racial segregation; as well as the paradoxicalrefinement of civil matters legal provisions in each country, and the strengthening of national measures restrictingimmigration; all of the above as part of a new human rights era, with its international legal instruments and theInternational Bill of Human Rights.

The widespread threat of species extinctions caused by the destruction and degradation of tropical primary forest (PF) could potentially be mitigated by the expansion of regenerating secondary forest (SF). However, the conservation value of SF remains controversial, and is dependent on many site- and landscape-scale factors, such as habitat age and isolation. The aim of this thesis was to assess the role that SF can play in conserving forest bird communities in central Panama. We study a chronosequence of SF aged 20 – 120-years-old, with sites either isolated from or connected to extensive PF. Our results suggest that SF supports high levels of avian species diversity, and similar community composition to PF. Whilst forest age plays a small role in determining compositional similarity to PF, connectivity to extensive PF was the main determinant of community composition. However, despite high species richness and complex community composition, some specialist PF bird species were consistently absent from SF, and isolated PF. The functional diversity of bird communities did not vary substantially across the forest age and isolation gradient, although we did find some inter-guild differences; with distinct responses in communities of avian insectivores and frugivores. Isolation caused shifts in the trophic traits of insectivores, but resulted in alterations in the dispersal traits of frugivores. The response of bird and tree community composition to forest age and isolation was similar, although isolation had a stronger impact on bird communities. Bird diversity and composition tracked changes in forest structure over succession. When examining the role of birds in seed-dispersal networks, we found bird gape width was the key predictor of seed size consumed. Large-gaped birds consume a wider variety of seed-sizes than small-gaped birds, and small-seeded trees attract a greater number of bird species than large-seeded trees. These results imply high levels of redundancy among small-gaped avian frugivores and small-seeded plant species, but low levels of redundancy among large-seeded plant species and their avian dispersers. This suggests that large-seeded plants may be most at risk of dispersal failure following any change in avian frugivore assemblages. Together, these results suggest that SF can play a key role in sustaining most tropical biodiversity, and in maintaining ecosystem services. Our findings emphasise the importance of integrating SF into conservation strategies to support and buffer tropical PF habitats.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-146). / The environmental cues for synchronous reproduction were investigated for two highly abundant, ecologically important crustacean species: the temperate acorn barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides, and the tropical terrestrial crab, Gecarcinus quadratus. Larval ecology of these two species was also studied to determine potential sources of larval mortality and recruitment success. High-frequency observations revealed that early-stage larval abundance of S. balanoides was related to storms, and possibly turbidity. Field observations and experiments studied the effect of turbidity and phytoplankton on larval release response. Release coincided with increased turbidity at three sites along the northeast coast of the United States. A three-year time series of phytoplankton and zooplankton data showed that larval release was not consistently related to phytoplankton abundance (total or single species). When gravid barnacles were exposed to phytoplankton or synthetic beads, they released in response to both, suggesting that presence of particles is more important than identity of particles. Feeding experiments showed that adult cannibalism on newly released larvae is lower in highly turbid conditions. It is suggested here that S. balanoides synchronizes its reproduction with the onset of phytoplankton blooms, but turbidity may fine-tune the timing if it provides predation refuge for larvae. Adult G. quadratus females undertake synchronized breeding migrations to the ocean after the first rains of the rainy season, presumably when the risk of desiccation is lowest. They wait for darkness and an ebbing tide before releasing their eggs into the water. First-stage zoeas have dark pigmentation, long dorsal and rostral spines, and a pair of lateral spines. Hatching in darkness may help zoeas avoid predation from planktivorous diurnal fish, and the zoeal spines may deter predation from planktivorous nocturnal fish. In the laboratory, a G. quadratus zoea reached the megalopa stage in 21 days. A mass migration of megalopae and juveniles out of the water was observed 30 days after adult females released their eggs. Plankton pump samples taken near the island suggest that zoea abundance and distribution may be related to the phase of the internal tide. Synchronous reproduction in these two species appears to be the result of predator avoidance behaviors. / by Joanna Gyory. / Ph.D.

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This dissertation provides both an historical outline and contemporary ethnographic account of the Panamanian musical practice called “música típica popular,” which is commonly understood in Panama to denote a specific kind of vernacular music that is widely embraced. By examining the social-historical processes, events and discourses that have contributed to the genre’s development, this study seeks to develop greater understanding of what I argue is this music’s particular and pronouncedly ambiguous relationship to prominent themes of Panamanian cultural nationalism. Specifically, I endeavour to show that early on in its history música típica popular epitomized Panama’s (liberalist-identified) national ethos of progressive modernity and cultural cosmopolitanism while at the same time maintaining alignments to specific territories and musical practices significant to Panamanian vernacular imaginaries. The historical outline covers música típica popular’s development beginning from the late nineteenth century to the present. Its focus is on the genre’s tandem commercialisation and massification, performance and production technologies and associated performance modalities, shared musical/sonic traits, repertoire and approaches to innovation through musical mixing or fusión (fusion). One of the central goals here is to trace and examine points of alignment between música típica popular and dominant paradigms governing isthmian geo-cultural self-identification—particularly the interplay between a rural-identified “vernacular” culture and the perceived urban cosmopolitanism of Panamanian metropolites. Through ethnographic research this study also aims to examine the various sonic, social and economic factors that contribute to notions of música típica popular as a particular socio-musical collectivity actively in dialogue with discourses of Panamanian national and cultural identity. To this end, notions of “genre” and “style” provide an analytical framework particularly for coming to terms with the interplay between sensibilities of convention and common practice, and a need for meaningful differentiation among practitioners. It is my contention that while música típica popular practitioners actively cultivate links both to themes of Panamanian music-cultural vernacularism and cosmopolitanism, on the whole the relationship of the genre to nationalist discourse should be more properly understood as one of sustained ambiguity: not wholly aligned to one theme or the other, and in fact doggedly and often productively resistant to such binary categorizations.

This dissertation provides both an historical outline and contemporary ethnographic account of the Panamanian musical practice called “música típica popular,” which is commonly understood in Panama to denote a specific kind of vernacular music that is widely embraced. By examining the social-historical processes, events and discourses that have contributed to the genre’s development, this study seeks to develop greater understanding of what I argue is this music’s particular and pronouncedly ambiguous relationship to prominent themes of Panamanian cultural nationalism. Specifically, I endeavour to show that early on in its history música típica popular epitomized Panama’s (liberalist-identified) national ethos of progressive modernity and cultural cosmopolitanism while at the same time maintaining alignments to specific territories and musical practices significant to Panamanian vernacular imaginaries. The historical outline covers música típica popular’s development beginning from the late nineteenth century to the present. Its focus is on the genre’s tandem commercialisation and massification, performance and production technologies and associated performance modalities, shared musical/sonic traits, repertoire and approaches to innovation through musical mixing or fusión (fusion). One of the central goals here is to trace and examine points of alignment between música típica popular and dominant paradigms governing isthmian geo-cultural self-identification—particularly the interplay between a rural-identified “vernacular” culture and the perceived urban cosmopolitanism of Panamanian metropolites. Through ethnographic research this study also aims to examine the various sonic, social and economic factors that contribute to notions of música típica popular as a particular socio-musical collectivity actively in dialogue with discourses of Panamanian national and cultural identity. To this end, notions of “genre” and “style” provide an analytical framework particularly for coming to terms with the interplay between sensibilities of convention and common practice, and a need for meaningful differentiation among practitioners. It is my contention that while música típica popular practitioners actively cultivate links both to themes of Panamanian music-cultural vernacularism and cosmopolitanism, on the whole the relationship of the genre to nationalist discourse should be more properly understood as one of sustained ambiguity: not wholly aligned to one theme or the other, and in fact doggedly and often productively resistant to such binary categorizations.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T14:37:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_talita_tejada.pdf: 1229434 bytes, checksum: 00aa0198737634a5ddf797dd569f628f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-04 / Salmonella is one of the main causative agents of foodborne diseases, and chicken-based products play a prominent role in this context, serving as vehicles to the microorganism. The present study aimed to provide data on the Salmonella spread in the poultry chain, check the occurrence of Salmonella and its different serotypes isolated from chicken stool, chicken products and human stool, as well as to verify the similarity between DNA profiles of Samonella isolated. Literature on the occurrence of Salmonella in the poultry chain was reviewed; parallel to it, a project in which 600 samples (200 chicken meat, 200 chicken stool and 200 human stool samples) were analyzed for Salmonella presence was developed. DNA profiles of isolated strains were obtained by PFGE and REP-PCR. The microorganism was isolated from 16 samples, 8 (8/200 4%) from chicken products, 4 of which (4/200 2%) from chicken stool and 4 (4/200 2%) from human stool. Salmonella serotype Schwarzengrund was found to prevail both in chicken meat and chicken stool, followed by serotype Mbandaka, whereas serotype Panama prevailed in humans. Strains with indistinguishable genotypes were found to be present both in chicken stool and chicken products, suggesting that the chicken contamination on the farm remained in the processed product. In humans, the isolated strains were indistinguishable between one another, suggesting an outbreak occurrence; however, the isolated serotypes in humans were not the same as those in chickens, which is probably related to different contamination sources. / Salmonella é um dos principais agentes causadores de doenças transmitidas por alimentos e os produtos a base de frango tem destaque importante neste contexto, podendo servir de veículo desse micro-organismo. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo apresentar dados quanto à propagação de Salmonella na cadeia avícola, verificar a ocorrência de Salmonella e de suas diferentes sorotipos isoladas de fezes de frango, produtos de frango e fezes humanas, bem como para verificar a similaridade entre os perfis de DNA de Salmonella isolados no extremo sul do Brasil. Foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica discorrendo sobre Salmonella na cadeia aviária e paralelamente foi desenvolvido um projeto, no qual foram analisadas 600 amostras (200 de carne de frango, 200 de fezes de frango e 200 de fezes de humanos), quanto à presença de Salmonella. Os perfis de DNA das cepas isoladas foram obtidos em PFGE e REP-PCR. O micro-organismo foi isolado de 16 amostras, sendo 8 (8/200 4%) de produtos de frango, 4 (4/200 2%) de fezes de frango e 4 (4/200 2%) de fezes de humanos. Observou-se que, tanto em carne de frango como fezes de frango, o sorotipo predominante foi Schwazengrund, seguido de Mbandaka. Em humanos, predominou S. Panama. Foi constatado que de cepas com genótipos indistinguíveis estavam presentes tanto em fezes de frango como produtos de frango, sugerindo que a contaminação do frango no aviário permaneceu no produto processado. Em humanos, as cepas isoladas foram indistinguíveis entre si sugerindo que tenha ocorrido um surto, no entanto, os sorotipos isolados não foram os mesmos dos isolados de frango, o que sugere outra fonte de contaminação.